› added 4 years ago

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TIL Only in the U.S. and New Zealand is direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs legal.

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via reddit.com

WBW9 TIL that Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Classification System, had “a persistent inability to control himself around women”. At Columbia “it was rumored that he asked for their bust sizes with their applications”; not true, but he did ask for photographs because “you cannot polish a pumpkin”.
9Yjjr TIL that in 2016 a research ship was named The RRS Sir David Attenborough. An internet poll to suggest the name of the ship showed the actual winner was the name "Boaty McBoatface," but the Science Minister wanted a "more suitable name" and chose a different name from the poll's choices.
kJpEe TIL The World's Biggest Plane Window Is 4.5 Feet Wide
DP7j TIL the US gas guzzler tax that was designed to discourage fuel-inefficient vehicles only applies to cars, but not SUVs, trucks, and vans, since they were rarely used as passenger cars when the law was passed in 1978. The law has since not been updated to reflect modern times.
mgpp TIL of HTTP error 451, which is used when a piece of content is unavailable due to censorship, and is a direct reference to Fahrenheit 451.