› added 6 years ago

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TIL about a Kentucky man who wanted to deter illegal fountain-divers, so he put up a sign saying "Danger! Water Contains High Levels of Hydrogen!", hoping to exploit people's lack of knowledge.

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via reddit.com

8aO14 TIL that in the 1840s, San Francisco a pair of stray dogs known as Bummer and Lazarus were such good rat catchers that they became famous in the city. Once, when a new dog catcher caught Lazarus, an angry mob formed. The city not only released him, but exempt both dogs from anti-stray laws.
b9mM4 TIL of 'Gentle Johnny' Ramensky, a non-violent career criminal who spent most of his life in prison, and went on to use his safe-cracking skills to retrieve enemy documents with the British Commandos during World War II.
69Ylw TIL that it is “prima donna” not “pre-Madonna” and thought it was always talking about someone who is an up-and-coming star (from NYT Mini Crossword)
xVdO5 TIL Paper Strength is measured in Kilometers, as a way to describe if a sheet of that paper measured that long would be vertically hung, it would tear on its own weight. That is to say, if a paper has strength of 14 Kilometers, a 14 Km long sheet would have to be vertically hung for it to tear.
WoDo TIL that in 1978 a physicist was hit in the head by a particle accelerator beam. He survived, finished his PhD, and is still alive today.