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TIL that Donald Rumsfeld holds the record for being both the youngest and oldest Secretary of Defense in US history ('75-'77 and '01-'06) (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL When a person receives a kidney transplant they don’t take out the old kidneys, they just shove em to the side and leave em in there. (www.kidney.org)

TIL 28 different copies of the Rosetta Stone have been discovered (www.youtube.com)

This video is really cool. It’s a curator talking about what is on the stone and why. They were supposed to be put in every temple in Egypt and were done so for many years, which is why so many have been discovered since the original famous one.

TIL that in January 2014, a seven-year-old girl named Charlotte Benjamin wrote a letter to Lego, pointing out the lack of female characters compared to male ones. (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL that in January 2014, a seven-year-old girl named Charlotte Benjamin wrote a letter to Lego, pointing out the lack of female characters compared to male ones. A few months later, in June 2014, Lego introduced a “Research Institute” set showcasing female scientists, which quickly sold out.

TIL a British short film about the dangers of paedophiles was presented by Rolf Harris who was later charged as a paedophile (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL Bill Cosby, Gene Hackman, Eartha Kitt, Burt Lancaster, Steve McQueen, and Barbra Streisand were some of the names on Nixon's "Enemies List" (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL that notoriously emasculated husband John Bobbit later also lost all his toes in a contaminated water scandal at Camp Lejeune. (www.the-sun.com)

TIL America and France fought an undeclared naval “Quasi-War” from 1798-1801, during which the Logan Act was passed into law, prohibiting diplomatic negotiations between a foreign power and private (history.state.gov)

TIL about Vertical Series, insane soap operas streamed in chunks of ~90 seconds in a vertical video format. They are all silly, terrible and some possibly written by AI. It is becoming a huge success. (www.rollingstone.com)

“Guys, please watch this insane ad I got on TikTok,” the caption of a viral thread on X (formerly Twitter) read last month. The thread, which has more than 20 million views, contains clips from a film titled Forbidden Desires: Alpha’s Love, about a college professor named Adrian who falls in love with his student, who also...

TIL: of where fresh water meets salt water -youtube (Wonder World) (youtu.be)

TIL Art Competitions were held at the Olympics 1912 to 1948. The winners of the competitions were awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals, similar to the winners of the athletic competitions (en.wikipedia.org)

i am free (lemmy.world)

TIL that the Pantheon (a former Roman temple, the name translates to "all gods" in ancient Greek), has actually been a Catholic church since 609 AD. (www.aaastateofplay.com)

TIL that the connection between Parkinson's and pesticides was discovered after Californian drug users injected themselves with faulty heroin that contained a neurotoxin byproduct, subsequently exhibiting symptoms (www.iospress.com)

It was only in the early 1980s that the first tangible evidence connecting a toxicant with neurodegeneration came to light. In a tragic experiment of nature, a group of drug users in California accidentally injected themselves with a bad batch of designer heroin and began suffering from symptoms closely resembling those of...

TIL George Harrison (Beatles) funded The Life of Brian (Monty Python) (youtu.be)

Can skip to 18:40 in this interview documentary of making the Monty Python movie The Life of Brian...

TIL that Kurioshi, Japan, has purpose-built tsunami evacuation towers (kuroshio-kanko.net)

TIL each pawn in chess had a specific name/profession based on its starting position on the board (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL Circuit City created a proprietary disposable type of DVD called a DIVX that was viewable for only 48 hours after initial viewing unless an additional fee was paid. Which led to bankruptcy (en.wikipedia.org)

TIL what the ancient Mesopotamians ate for dinner (www.bbc.com)

for the lamb stew known as tu’hu, first you get water. Then you sear leg meat in fat. In go salt, beer, onion, rocket, coriander, Persian shallot, cumin, beets, water. Crushed leek and garlic and more coriander, for a fiery taste. Then add kurrat, an Egyptian leek.

TIL Morrissey wrote a novel that was published in 2015. It got a ton of negative reviews and won the "bad sex award for love scenes" that year. (www.theguardian.com)

The love scene in question:...

TIL It is said that not even Nicolaus Copernicus ever saw planet Mercury. The reason is that, as an inner planet (to Earth), it will never angularly move away more than 28 degrees from the Sun (www.sav.sk)

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