› added 1 year ago

53

TIL that Treadmills were used as punishment devices for people sentenced to forced labor in British prisons. It was banned as cruel and inhumane by 1900.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

v1w1j TIL it took Tesla just a year from the time they've formed Shanghai subsidiary to actually producing cars — bidding process for land was automatically stopped early because Tesla was the only bidder; groundbreaking a few months later; 9 months after groundbreaking cars rolled off production line.
X09rQ TIL Kevin O’Leary, known from Dragons’ Den, isn’t a billionaire but a master self-promoter. He sold a software company to Mattel in a $4B deal that later flopped, ran underperforming investment funds, and faced lawsuits. Critics say he’s better at branding than business
KO9jR TIL in 2014, the makers of Red Bull were sued by a man who found their slogan “Red Bull gives you wings” dishonest, as the drink has less caffeine than a regular cup of coffee, meaning it provided less of an energy boost. They had to reimburse American consumers who bought Red Bull from 2002-2014.
l7aja TIL: After the trans-Saharan slave trade ended, Muslim-African Hajj pilgrims were deceived by tribal leaders, who offered low-cost travel to the East Coast. Upon arrival, they were trafficked across the Red Sea and sold into slavery in Saudi Arabia, instead of being allowed to perform the Hajj.
b9vO9 TIL that "The Saga Begins," Weird Al Yankovic's parody of the song "American Pie" where he lays out the plot of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, was written almost entirely based on internet spoilers.