› added 11 years ago

87

TIL John Swartzwelder, a writer for the Simpsons used to write episodes while sitting in a booth at a coffee shop “drinking copious amounts of coffee and smoking endless cigarettes”. When California passed an anti-smoking law, he bought the diner booth and installed it in his house.

awZZZ TIL about "Mean World Syndrome" in which people who are exposed to excessive violent content in mass media, particularly TV news coverage, believe the world is much more violent than it actually is.
a8gby TIL that in the 1890s, the U.S. government created the Alaska Reindeer Service, in an attempt to persuade Alaskan natives to become reindeer herders. Reindeer were imported from Siberia, and Sami herders were brought from Norway to teach the Alaskan natives.
e0Dag TIL that the Royal Society invested so heavily in the publication of The History of Fish that it almost went bankrupt and couldn't fund the publication of Isaac Newton's groundbreaking work Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.
nW66W TIL that the character Frieza from Dragon Ball Z, known for his ruthless destruction of planets to profit from their resale, was inspired by the behavior of real estate speculators during Japan's economic bubble in the 1980s
D90p TIL McDonald’s employees web site advises returning holiday gifts to get out of debt, breaking food into smaller pieces to feel full, and not to complain because it raises stress. Oh, and it also advises to take at least two vacations a year.