› added 11 years ago

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TIL That as the idea of temperance began to pick up in the United States in the 1800s, children were taught in school that alcohol could cause spontaneous combustion. “A schoolbook for children told the story of a man who was so full of alcohol that he exploded while attempting to light his pipe”

WkKVX TIL the term "Genericide"- That if a Trademark begins being used as a generic term for other items of it's kind to the point where it becomes the more common term for the item than the items generic name, the Trademark can be removed. Escalators used to be a trademark but this happened with them.
96op TIL 8 of the top 10 cities with highest unemployment rates in America are in California.
Nmw6 TIL New College (f 1379) has a hall made with oak beams. A century ago it was found the beams were infested w/ beetles; Finding replacements would be difficult, however, in the 1300s New College had planted groves of oak trees w/ the sole purpose to replace the beams when they became full of beetles
VMwdk TIL that in 2014, Sony released a cassette tape with storage capacity of 185 Tera-Bytes. That means the tape could contain over 64 million songs, or the storage on 11 thousand iPhones.
wLnKM TIL two men dressed as Batman and Captain America were teaching kids at an event when they noticed a nearby home on fire. They ran to the house, rushed inside, and rescued a cat that had inhaled smoke. "Batman" gave the cat mouth-to-mouth breaths until it recovered, then it hissed and "freaked out."