Little known facts

[Alistair]

Harvard University Library has four books bound in human skin.

 

[Araucaria]

Harvard University Library has four books bound in human skin.

My first reaction to this was that this statement couldn't just stand by itself, it needed an explanation. So I googled it, and apparently the Harvard Library has one, not four volumes, bound in human skin. It seems the book was written by a French physician in 1879, who used the skin of a woman who died in a mental institution. It seems that Harvard has removed the binding, and is storing it until a final deposition can be determined. My search also pulled up a New York Times article about Brown University Library having four volumes bound in human skin. But I didn't bother to access it because I know from past experience that NYT articles are behind a paywall.

In a strange coincidence, while I was looking up this information, a song came on the radio with the lyrics "her body, her choice," about the abortion issue, but that is the crucial point behind the book binding, in that the woman's remains were almost certainly taken without her consent.

A Book Bound With Human Skin Spent 90 Years in Harvard's Library. Now, the Binding Has Been Removed

In the late 19th century, a French physician took the skin, without consent, from a female psychiatric patient who had died

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[Alistair]

My first reaction to this was that this statement couldn't just stand by itself, it needed an explanation. So I googled it, and apparently the Harvard Library has one, not four volumes, bound in human skin. It seems the book was written by a French physician in 1879, who used the skin of a woman who died in a mental institution. It seems that Harvard has removed the binding, and is storing it until a final deposition can be determined. My search also pulled up a New York Times article about Brown University Library having four volumes bound in human skin. But I didn't bother to access it because I know from past experience that NYT articles are behind a paywall.

In a strange coincidence, while I was looking up this information, a song came on the radio with the lyrics "her body, her choice," about the abortion issue, but that is the crucial point behind the book binding, in that the woman's remains were almost certainly taken without her consent.

A Book Bound With Human Skin Spent 90 Years in Harvard's Library. Now, the Binding Has Been Removed

In the late 19th century, a French physician took the skin, without consent, from a female psychiatric patient who had died

www.smithsonianmag.com

There was an episode of pawn stars where someone brought in a book that was supposedly bound with human skin. It turned out to be pig. There was history of books being bound in skin.

 

[Alistair]

Iceland tops the world in per capita book reading.

 

[pornoboy]

Mercedes cars are mentioned in at least 16415 songs worldwide, way ahead of any other automobile brand.​

 

[pornoboy]

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[pornoboy]

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[pigface]

View attachment 2703406​

In Britain, cutting your food with a table knife in a public place constitutes "a knife crime".

 

[Alistair]

 

[Alistair]

Fingers don’t have muscles.

Both tendons and bones provide the functionality for the fingers, and those tendons and bones are connected to the muscles located in the palm of the hands. But the fingers themselves don't have any muscles present.

 

[pornoboy]

Over 1,3 billion birds die every year in northern america flying into glas windows

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[Alistair]

 

[Alistair]

This is too good not to share

1st preserved dinosaur butthole is 'perfect' and 'unique,' paleontologist says

This was a multipurpose hole.

www.livescience.com

 

[smokeshadow]

 

[Alistair]

 

[pigface]

Steam isn't an energy source, it's just a transmission medium. The power comes from a fuel burned to boil water. What was the fuel? Oil, coal, wood?

 

[fredroy]

Stanley Steamers used gasoline and then kerosene as fuel. Then internal combustion engines improved quite a bit, and cost less, plus electric starting instead of hand cranking to start.... just out teched the steamers.

Other steam powered cars might have used coal or wood. I haven't looked that up.

 

[pornoboy]

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[Alistair]

China holds the record for billionaires, with 814

 

[Alistair]

There’s a lot less murders committed in Central Park than CSI:NY would have us believe.