› added 11 years ago

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TIL George Orwell sent a copy of 1984 to his idol, Aldous Huxley. Huxley wrote Orwell a letter, in effect saying, “Good book, but the future will be more like what I wrote in Brave New World, not 1984.”

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VMJvm TIL A card addressed to "Ya know yer wan, her mother’s Hogan from Castleblayney, but the daughter’s an ex-townie. Grew up in Athlone and moved to Ballymacward when she got married. Lives next door to her in-laws now. She has a rake a’ childer and 7 dogs and 4 cats and..." was successfully delivered.
6oXQ TIL Ching Shih was a prostitute, captured by pirates. She then became a pirate herself, commanding a fleet of hundreds of ships and at least 20,000 pirates. She never lost a battle against the Chinese, British, and Portuguese navies before retiring rich after being pardoned.
mxAKM TIL that men wearing wedding rings was not common until World War 2, when soldiers would wear a ring to remind them of their love back home. After WW2, it became mainstream for men to wear a wedding ring.
GAP6E TIL each week, Katz's Delicatessen serves 15,000 lb of pastrami, 8,000 lb of corned beef, 2,000 lb of salami and 4,000 hot dogs
X0oLD TIL most blind people with no perception of light experience continual circadian desynchrony