› added 1 week ago

TIL - Of Fox tossing, a blood sport popular in 18th & 17th century Europe where people would compete to sling a fox or other small animal into the air. This was usually fatal for the fox.

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R5mYa TIL: Diamond engagement rings aren’t an old tradition—they were invented by marketers. In 1938, the diamond company De Beers hired an ad agency to convince people diamonds = love. They launched “A Diamond Is Forever”—a slogan that took off, even though diamonds aren’t rare and are hard to resell.
0dZJ1 TIL according to the singer Meat Loaf (born Marvin Lee Aday), when he was born his father thought looked like “nine-and-a-half pounds of ground chuck” and nicknamed him "Meat". Years later, when he was a heavyset teenage football player, the players and coaches expanded the name to "Meat Loaf".
0wKpR TIL why rubbing an injury helps the pain. Nerves feel stretch (baro) temperature, pain, pressure. You can only feel one at a time. Pressure beats all in this game of rock, paper, scissors. When you cut yourself and squeeze the cut finger hard you feel the pressure but not the cut.
GAZOj TIL Carl Gugasian, one of the most prolific bank robbers ever in the US, thought he’d never be able to get a real job and felt he had no option but to resort to a life of crime. Convicted of robbery at 15, he didn't know that his juvenile records would get expunged.
kOVD5 TIL The Vatican once sent a priest to find out if Shirley Temple was secretly an adult with dwarfism.