› added 7 months ago

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TIL the name Häagen-Dazs was invented to sound Danish by an American with no actual knowledge of the language. By coincidence, it roughly translates to "Garden Outhouse".

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yZaX TIL the reason a Blu-Ray disc holds 5x more data than a DVD is because a blue laser has a lower wavelength than a red one, which means it can read and write data more precisely, much like writing with a ballpoint pen instead of a crayon.
9w7br TIL a surgeon named Robert Liston performed a surgery that had a 300% mortality rate. He amputated his patient's leg in under 2 and a half minutes who died from gangrene, amputated his assistant's fingers who also died from gangrene, and cut the coat tails of a spectator, who died from shock.
4koOw TIL that in 1968, students at the University of Colorado named their new cafeteria after Alfred Packer, a notorious self-confessed cannibal in Colorado history.
YplJr TIL architect Alejandro Echeverri was approached by the mayor of Medellin, one of the most dangerous cities in the world, to revitalize the city. He focused on building in the poorest areas first to bring people and infrastructure into these neighborhoods. Crime dropped substantially.
WkZmX TIL about a teacher called Osamu Mizutani who for 14 years patrolled the streets at night trying to persuade Japanese youth hanging around the streets to return to regular life while also responding to calls and emails.