› added 2 years ago

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TIL that an irrational number is called "irRATIOnal" because it cannot be expressed as a RATIO. This is probably the stupidest TIL ever, but for decades I just thought a number was called irrational because it had a never-ending decimal that did not behave in a predictable, explicable way.

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AyG4 TIL the practice of selling one’s kidney for profit in Iran is legal and regulated by the government. It is estimated that 1,400 Iranians sell one of their kidneys annually. Iran is the only country in the world that allows this and has neither a waiting list nor a shortage of available organs.
ZpXxD TIL the music video of Bombtrack (1991) by Rage Against the Machine supported Sendero Luminoso and its leader Abimael Guzman. The group sang in a cage, mimicking Guzman being filmed in a cage after being arrested
oBE8Y TIL Fredric Baur invented the Pringles can. When he died in 2008, his ashes were buried in one.
VMElm TIL in 1922, scientists went to a hospital ward with comatose children, dying from diabetic keto-acidosis. They went from bed to bed injecting the kids with a new extract, insulin. As they injected the last comatose child, the first one injected began to awaken.
D1wRY TIL that only two women have ever attempted to assassinate a US President, and both attempts were made on Gerald R. Ford within 3 weeks of each other.