› added 12 years ago

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TIL that since 1989 the federal government has paid $2.4 billion in awards for 3100+ injuries/deaths proven to have been caused by adverse reactions to vaccinations. Not a single one of the 4,564 claims of vaccine-caused autism was found to have merit.

Read more hrsa.gov

via reddit.com

LkM8m TIL that when Weird Al Yankovic parodied the Nirvana song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Titled "Smells like Nirvana"), frontman and guitarist Kurt Cobain considered the parody as a sign that the band had "made it".
KjrQ TIL the astronauts aboard Apollo 11 couldn’t afford the life insurance policy for an astronaut, so they hatched an alternate plan. Prior to their mission, the three signed hundreds of autographs while under quarantine for their families to sell if anything were to happen to them.
GyLN TIL The Museum of Endangered Sounds exists to allow streaming of once popular technological sounds. ie. the dial-up tone, ICQ chat tone, Windows 95 startup
Lwlp TIL Until 1616 coffee was essentially a monopoly run by Yemen. Merchants were forbidden to sell live coffee plants or seeds. That changed when Pieter van der Broecke, a Dutch merchant, stole coffee seeds and brought them back to Holland. 40 years later coffee had traveled as far as Sri Lanka.
KYYr9 TIL that in 1893 financier J.P. Morgan and the Rothschilds bailed out the U.S. Treasury with 3.5 million ounces of gold, saving it from default. Over 100 years later, Morgan's bank was bailed out by the federal government during the 2008 financial crisis.