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TIL That – despite a central theme of the X-Men comics being the mutants are still human – Marvel successfully won a court case in 2003 to classify the X-Men action figures as ‘non-human toys’ in order to avoid higher tariffs.

by whatilearned September 23, 2021, 8:56 am

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TIL A baker’s dozen is 13 because in medieval England, there were strict laws on the price of bread & wheat. In order to avoid being fined/beaten, bakers would add an extra loaf to a dozen to avoid accidentally coming up short.

by whatilearned September 22, 2021, 9:41 pm

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TIL Radiohead were so inspired by iron lungs, they went into a hospital to shoot one in order to use it as the artwork for their second album. However they found it boring and instead used footage of a PCR mannequin. They said it expressed “sensations of extasy and agony, simultaneously”.

by whatilearned September 21, 2021, 11:47 pm

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TIL that song order on vinyl record albums was sometimes determined by placing the “softer” songs near the end of the label, because those songs are played back quieter due to the physics of how record players playback a recording on a vinyl record.

by whatilearned September 21, 2021, 6:51 pm

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TIL during the Nativity of John the Baptist (June 24) crowds would make bonfires around which they would dance and throw in objects they considered to have magical powers in order to bring good luck. A favorite item was cats, in particular Parisians liked to incinerate cats by the sackful.

by whatilearned September 20, 2021, 3:34 pm

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TIL that citizens of former Spanish colonies only need 2 years of legal residence in Spain (instead of the usual 10) in order to acquire Spanish citizenship.

by whatilearned September 19, 2021, 1:47 pm

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TIL that the PT Cruiser is technically a truck. Chrysler specifically designed it to fit the criteria of a light truck in order to bring the average fuel efficiency of the company’s light truck fleet into compliance with standards

by whatilearned September 16, 2021, 10:48 pm

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Let’s say, hypothetically, I wanted to order a pizza.

by CopyPastaArchive September 14, 2021, 8:42 pm

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TIL in 1900 the flow of the Chicago River was permanently reversed in order to prevent sewage from flowing into Lake Michigan

by whatilearned September 14, 2021, 10:07 am

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TIL that in his final tennis match, Joe Hunt won the 1943 US Open. He was unable to obtain leave from the Navy in 1944 in order to defend his title and was killed in February 1945, in an airplane crash.

by whatilearned September 6, 2021, 2:41 pm

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TIL East Germany produced almost unbreakable “superfest” drinking glasses in order to not waste resources. After reunification production was shut down as no manufacturer had any interest in the technology, or in a product which would “slow down” sales

by whatilearned September 6, 2021, 8:38 am

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TIL about the Order of the White Feather, founded by a British admiral so women could give out feathers to men to shame them to sign up for WWI. They were widely hated for harassing men who weren’t allowed to enlist and soldiers who were on leave or medically discharged.

by whatilearned September 6, 2021, 1:01 am

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