› added 8 years ago

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TIL that in 1997, a Muslim group complained about a 60-year-old statue of Muhammad at the Supreme Court. Rather than take down the statue, its description was changed to say it is supposed to look like Muhammad but doesn’t.

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VBgg8 TIL the Ringling Bros circus had a secret spy agency that utilized dirty tactics to sabotage animal rights groups and others. In one instance, they created a fake literary agency to trick a biographer into publishing her critical book on the founders family so they could file a copyright claim.
ZpMJR TIL that Spitting Cobras emerged in the fossil record around the same time as early humans. It is speculated that the reason these snakes spray venom is because of the pressure humans in particular put on them. The spraying of venom from a distance countered the humans' use of projectile weapons.
g7MX TIL when a factory worker from Wonka was asked about the production of Nerds candy, he said “Basically we start off with a sugar crystal and we just keep coating it with more sugar.”
l70lG TIL OJ Simpson wrote a book titled If I Did It after being found not guilty for the murder of his ex wife Nicole. After filing for bankruptcy a judge awarded all profits of the book to the family of his ex wife who promptly changed the cover to say I Did It with the if in tiny font.
npVd TIL the Grim Reaper was most commonly depicted carrying a scythe as imagery to death was an extension of an agrarian society in which harvesting, done in the fall, represented the death of another year.