› added 2 months ago

12

TIL that Matt Groening's parents' names in real life were Marge and Homer

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

4ZBb TIL The Japanese Yakuza use a racketeering practice known as Sōkaiya to extort money from businesses. They buy enough shares to have a seat at meetings, then threaten to show up and disclose secrets about company leaders. This usually works because Japanese fear shame more than anything.
Z8NQo TIL AJ Jacobs embarked on a quest to read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica and was a contestant on "Millionaire" but only won $32,000 because he forgot what an erythrocyte was. He also visited the Brittanica HQ and discovered that not even the editor-in-chief knew every fact in its publication
KY9LJ TIL of an early African-heritage resident of London, a silk weaver going by the rather... unsubtle name of Reasonable Blackman.
ElJo TIL when Vietnam invaded Cambodia, the Cambodian king sent a beautiful woman who convinced the Vietnamese commander to withdraw. The Vietnamese then sent a famous general, who also withdrew after meeting the same woman.
0wvaN TIL that Cobalt was named after Kobolds, the goblin like creatures said to inhabit mines.