› added 5 years ago

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TIL Philips couldn't use their name on any of their products in the United States, because their name was too similar to Philco. So, they decided to name their US products "Norelco" until 1974, and then "Magnavox" until 1981, when Philps bought Philco.

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J1OLk TIL that privacy self-management (i.e., the principle that people individually manage their privacy via notice and consent) is based on multiple "fundamentally wrong" assumptions.
Oap6 TIL In WWII, partially due to America’s ship-building rate, advances in radar technology, as well as cracking the “Enigma code”, German U-boats had a 75% casualty rate by the end of the war,(the highest of all German forces).
DQBmV TIL a man named Muhammad al-Qahtani claimed to be the Mahdi (a messianic figure in Islamic eschatology) and formed a cult following that besieged and took over Al-Haram, the holiest Islamic site, in the city of Mecca for more than two weeks, and had left 255 pilgrims killed and hundreds injured
EgVJd TIL in 1184, 60 noblemen died after a wooden floor collapsed in a church, causing them to fall into a "latrine cesspit" (liquid shit) which hadn't been emptied for a while. Their cause of death was drowning.
OgR6 TIL that during WWII, the Japanese invaded Alaska, and more Americans were killed or wounded defending Alaska than at Pearl Harbor.