› added 10 years ago

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TIL the X’s that you often see on the sides old moonshine jugs in cartoons and popular media actually signified how many times that particular batch had gone through the still, being that the basic pot-stills of yesteryear required you to distill the mash several times before you got pure alcohol.

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nWXjP TIL about the mysterious case of Exploding Trousers that occurred in New Zealand between WWI and WW2. It turns out farmers had been spraying a particular herbicide which would then crystallize and collect on their clothes, then ignite when exposed to spark or open flame.
LyLr TIL all copies of the film “Nosferatu” were ordered burned by a court due to a lawsuit from the heirs of Bram Stoker, who said the film was an unauthorized adaption of “Dracula” (it was). However, one copy survived the purge, and the film is recognized today as a masterpiece of horror in film.
M7K5W TIL about “Franco’s hajj”. A program instituted by the fascist dictator of Spain General Francisco Franco to sponsor Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in a bid to court the Islamic World. The program lasted for several decades.
W6W8 TIL The shower curtain sucks in around you when showering since water droplets decellerate under the influence of aerodynamic drag. The energy gets transferred to the shower’s air and creates a low pressure system (similar to a hurricane) which sucks the curtain towards you.
oRRaR TIL the largest U.S. loss of life at sea was the HMS Rohna. This was hidden by the US to prevent the Nazis from knowing their remote guided missiles were effective.