› added 11 years ago

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TIL that in 2002 14 girls died in a fire after Religious Police refused exit to girls who were not properly dressed.

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J1dd1 TIL: Crypto AG, a Swiss company specializing in encryption, was secretly owned and manipulated by CIA and BND, compromising global communications for decades
4XAo6 TIL Werner Forssmann, a physician, risked his own life to show that cardiac catheterization could work. He cut a hole in his arm and inserted a catheter into a vein, not knowing if the catheter might pierce a vein. He was later awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
ZQvR TIL Pillbugs/roly polys/doodlebugs aren’t actually bugs or millipedes, but actually crustaceans.
RPa1 TIL that in 1890, 60 common starlings were released in Central Park in an attempt to introduce every bird mentioned in the works of Shakespeare to America. They became a pest, and there are currently 150 million of them.
WywA TIL that in 1982 a journalist sent out word-for-word copies of the screenplay for “Casablanca” to every Hollywood film agency. Of the 85 that read it, 33 recognized it and only four made an offer for it. The other 48 rejected the script outright.