› added 1 year ago

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TIL about anti-apartheid activist Ruth First. A Jewish South African communist who was assassinated in 1982 by a parcel bomb built by South African police while exiled in Mozambique. She crossed paths with Nelson Mandela after he involvement in the founding of the Federation of Progressive Students

BgmOk TIL that in AD 70, Roman emperor Vespasian levied a tax on urine and sent agents to public urinals to collect it. When his son (who opposed the tax), asked him whether the coins he collected this way smelled bad, he famously replied "money does not stink".
yOA8 TIL A 12 year old boy won the right to wear a t-shirt saying “Homosexuality is a sin, Islam is a lie, Abortion is murder. Some issues are just black and white” to his school. The school then told him not to wear the t-shirt, leading to his parents suing the school. The parents won.
wLaj7 TIL that for the past 15 years, Brazilian football team Corinthians has never lost a match held right before or after a Taylor Swift solo album release, but always lost the match held after the release of a Paul McCartney solo album.
mxWGP TIL that Dune (by Frank Herbert) is actually a warning AGAINST the Hero's Journey: "The bottom line of the Dune trilogy is: beware of heroes. Much better rely on your own judgment, and your own mistakes."
eYeL TIL That “Denim”(Jean) comes from Nimes, France. It was therefore originally called serge de Nimes or “fabric from Nimes”. The “serge” soon disappeared and left us with “de Nimes”.