› added 7 years ago

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TIL that King Herod of Judea (73/74 BCE – 4 BCE) desired a certain maiden and she killed herself to avoid marrying him. He later went on to preserve her body in honey for 7 years amid rumours of necrophilia.

6pG7 TIL that in the 60s the US struck a deal with the UK to buy an unpopulated Indian ocean island for a military base. The UK didn’t have an unpopulated island, so it forcibly expelled the inhabitants of the British Indian Ocean Territory until it WAS uninhabited.
PNyg TIL Samuel Coleridge perceived the entire course of Kubla Khan, a poem, in a dream, but was interrupted by a visitor from Porlock while in the process of writing it. Kubla Khan was never completed. Thus “Person from Porlock” is an allusion to intruders who disrupt creativity.
R7ee6 TIL that research is being done on psychedelics to alleviate cluster headache symptoms. Cluster headaches are an extremely debilitating and painful neurovascular disorder that many are unable to find relief for. By isolating parts of the substance, they can also remove the hallucinogenic effects.
1aYe8 TIL the first computer password was stolen in 1961 by a PhD candidate named named Allan Scherr. He stole it from his colleague, Fernando Corbató, who invented computer passwords in 1960. Scherr stole the password because he wanted more time on the computer.
8aGpP TIL 'that when a male anglerfish finds a female, he will bite down and latch onto her body, where his tissues and circulatory systems will fuse with hers. In exchange for nutrients from the female, the male loses his eyes, fins, teeth, and most internal organs, only serving as a sperm bank for her.'