› added 9 years ago

189

TIL that the current Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, owns a restaurant chain called the Earl of Sandwich, which specialises in sandwiches.

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698W7 TIL going to the beach and swimming in the ocean for leisure is a relatively modern practice in the western world. Prior to the 17th century, Europeans historically viewed beaches as frightening places, and "only peasants sought refuge from the heat in the cool seawater".
1VE4 TIL John Kellog published books condemning masturbation and suggested it be treated by sewing foreskin shut with silver wire and burning the clitoris with carbolic acid. He believed meat consumption lead to masturbation and urged people to eat more cereals - which led to the nvention of Corn Flakes
5YDeB TIL a newly crafted DNA base pair, an unnatural base pair (UBP), has been used to create a semi-synthetic organism that can make amino acids and proteins not otherwise found in nature
lBnN TIL a Swiss national is serving a 4 year jail term in UAE, after 3 poppy seeds from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow airport were found on his clothes.
v1xbK TIL in the past, Chinese writers would use pejorative symbols: such as dog and monkey radicals, to write the names of ethnic groups that the Chinese didn't like.