› added 12 years ago

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TIL that each year on April Fools Day, James Randi gives an award to expose frauds called the Pigasus Award.

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d8N6B TIL Gustaw Herling wrote a book in 1951 entitled A World Apart about the two years he spent in the Soviet gulag, and that the book ends with letters from prominent Communists assuring westerners that these camps don't exist.
vPXZB TIL San Marino has two heads of state at once (a diarchy). The heads of state, called "Captains Regent" serve 6-month long terms. They currently have the youngest head of state in the world at 27 and have had a more female heads of state than any other nation with 18.
v1wdK TIL The legal definition of a 'sandwich' differs across the USA. In California, a hot dog is a sandwich. In Massachusetts, a burrito is not a sandwich. The USDA defines a sandwich as meat between two slices of bread and says a burrito is a 'sandwich like product.' New York has another definition.
D1NrP TIL that two MIT Scientists successfully planted a false memory into a mouse (Mouseception). When set in a certain box, the mouse freezes in terror, recalling that it receives a shock in this box, when this never happened. This research may lead to new treatments for Depression or Alzheimer's, etc.
4kopa TIL There were twenty-six issues of Detective Comics that preceded the debut of Batman in 1939. Three covers portray Asian characters in an unflattering manner, including Mr Chang and the villainous Ching Lung