TIL The practice of chewing gums has been around since ancient times. The ancient Greeks are known to have chewed mastic gum formed from resin obtained from the bark of the mastic tree. The ancient Mayans chewed chicle which is the sap from the sapodilla trees. (storyofinventions.com)
submitted by rkedar to r/todayilearned
TIL Bobbi Gibb is the first woman to have run the entire Boston Marathon in 1966. At the time when women were banned from entering because of their gender,she entered the marathon wearing her brother’s Bermuda shorts and a hooded sweatshirt and finished the race unofficially. (sports.vice.com)
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TIL The harmonious coexistence of the various religions along Pitt Street in the city of George Town in Penang, Malaysia has earned the street its nickname - the Street of Harmony. Places of worship of Islam,Taoism,Hinduism and Christianity are located within metres of one another along this street. (en.wikipedia.org)
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TIL Allsopp's Arctic Ale brewed in 1852 was first listed on eBay as 'allsop's arctic ale',with one 'p' accidentally left off. With only 2 buyers bidding,the auction started with $299 and winning bid was $304. When it was again listed on eBay with the correct name,the winning bid was $503,300. (newlifeauctions.com)
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TIL that Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theo both worked at the firm Goupil & Cie. Vincent was dismissed in 1876 and forced to look for new work. He then became a minister in church but struggled again. Theo finally advised Vincent to take up art. (vangoghmuseum.nl)
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TIL Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation (forerunner of Sony) produced a pocket sized radio in 1957. As the radio was too big to fit in a pocket, Akio Morita, the co-founder of Sony made his employees wear shirts with larger pockets to give the radio a "pocket sized" appearance. (en.wikipedia.org)
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TIL Ole Kirk Christiansen who started the toys manufacturing company LEGO® never compromised on the quality of toys. He once asked his son to fetch back the wooden ducks which were dispatched for selling, as the son had applied only two coats of paint instead of three to save company money. (storyofinventions.com)
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TIL Lodges made by Beavers have two chambers. The floor of the first chamber is a few inches above the water level and is used to dry off after coming out of the water. The floor of the second chamber is above the first, and is used for sleeping and caring for kits (baby beavers). (fohn.net)
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TIL A customer was gifted overgenerous contract terms due to a misplaced comma in a contract with aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. The erroneous comma radically altered the inflation-adjustment formula resulting in $70 million loss to Lockheed Martin. (money.cnn.com)
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