› added 4 years ago

90

TIL: 19th century investor, Jay Gould, mastered short selling stocks by selling borrowed stocks and then publishing negative rumors about the company he borrowed them from in a newspaper he owned so he could buy the stocks back at a profit.

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7807Z TIL that from 1958 to 2002 it was tradition for the newly elected French President to pardon traffic offenses for the 6-12 months before the election. President Chirac ended the tradition because of the substantial rise in traffic deaths and injuries it caused.
GYYZN TIL the prime minister of the southern song dynasty, Jia Sidao's, obsession with cricket fighting is believed to have contributed to the downfall of the empire.
QNvYM TIL 120.2 billion servings of instant noodles were eaten around the world in 2023 alone. Assuming it takes three minutes to prepare each serving, then the total time spent on preparing noodles last year was approximately 690,000 years.
4XJNJ TIL around 1800 BC, a king in Mesopotamia appointed a palace worker king for a short period of time to avoid a disaster that he was told was coming by an oracle. Near the end of the time, he died while eating soup and the worker ruled for 24 years.
6ExbY TIL: The measles has a rare complication called Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis that occurs 6-15 years after the virus is caught. This complication causes brain swelling which leads to memory loss, change in personality, loss of body functions, uncontrollable spasming, and inevitably death.