› added 12 years ago

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Today I learned that when maverick Scottish Psychiatrist R.D. Laing faced a naked schizophrenic woman rocking silently to and fro in a padded cell, he took off his own clothes and sat next to her, rocking to the same rhythm until she spoke for the first time in months.

Read more guardian.co.uk

via reddit.com

ANoYa TIL in 2021 Interstellar Technologies launched their TENGA Rocket named after their main sponsor; the adult toy manufacturer of the same name. Onboard was a masturbator equipped with sensors whose data was to be used to develop them for space use.
wLbwJ TIL the cheeseburger was invented by a 16 year old short order cook in Pasadena, CA in 1924. It was described as the "Aristocratic Hamburger." Subsequent claims of birthing the cheeseburger occurs in Denver, CO in 1935, and in Louisville, KY in 1934.
6Qd7 TIL that a simple test involving asking a patient to draw the face of a clock is used as a screening tool for Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia.
rNdVx TIL that the Brennan monorail uses two gyroscopes opposing each other which allows it to balance on a single rail
BroVW TIL that the largest municipality in the world is Sermersooq in Greenland, with an area of 531,900 km² (and a population of 23,123) - if it was a country, it would be the 48th largest in the world, larger than Yemen, Spain, or Thailand