The longest place names in Europe
Auschwitz victims by place of origin
European Ancestry in Latin America
TIL that the question of a tomato being a fruit was a Supreme Court case in 1893
TIl That Burma Dictator Ne Win announced the demonetisation of the 25, 35, and 75 kyat notes, leaving only the 1, 5, and 10 kyat bills valid and replaced them with 45 and 90 bills, wiping out 60-80% of legal tender and peoples savings.
TIL that Betty White was the oldest of the four main actresses on The Golden Girls and the last to pass away.
TIL The St. Johns River is the longest river in Florida, and the longest river in the United States that flows northward
TIL: "Itasha" which translates to "painful" or "cringeworthy" car is a subculture that originated in Japan which involves wrapping cars in flashy graphics, typically anime girls. In recent years it has been growing in popularity in the US with specialized businesses such as "The Weeb Stop".
TIL that the final article of the Greek Constitution says all Greeks "have the right and the duty to resist by all possible means against anyone who attempts the violent abolition of the Constitution."
TIL of the spoils system which is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends (cronyism), and relatives (nepotism) as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party.
TIL excessive genital warts is an actual condition
TIL about Black Sunday, April 14, 1935, when a massive dust storm hundreds of miles wide and thousands of feet high tore through Oklahoma and Texas. Temperatures dropped 30+ degrees in 2 hours as the storm turned day into night, plunging the Southern Plains into total darkness.
TIL in 1715 Sybilla Masters was awarded the patent for her corn-processing machine in her husband's name as coverture laws at the time prevented a married woman from owning property, including intellectual property.
TIL Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a Jewish neurologist that escaped Nazi Germany, founded what would become the Paralympic Games in 1948 with the Stoke Mandeville Games. Guttmann believed sport was a major form of therapy for disabled people
TIL that the daring Doolittle Raid—launching bombers off a small aircraft carrier to raid Tokyo after Pearl Harbor—resulted in over 200,000 civilian deaths IN CHINA, where the Japanese punished anyone who helped American airmen who had to bail.
TIL that the phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from 18th- and 19th-century hat makers who suffered mercury poisoning from the chemicals used in felt production, leading to tremors, hallucinations, and erratic behavior.
TIL that cursing in public is a punishable offence in some US states
TIL menthol causes a subjective nasal decongestant effect without any objective decongestant action, and administration of menthol via a nasal inhaler in humans has also been shown to cause nasal congestion
TIL Nickelodeon was the first cable channel for kids
TIL Nikola Tesla was obsessed with the number 3 and engaged in a number of compulsive behaviors around it. For example, he would walk around a building three times before entering and he commonly washed his hands three times in a row
TiL In 2023, Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger purchased an architecturally-significant house, known as the Ellwood Zimmerman House, in Brentwood, California. They demolished it in 2024
TIL in 2010, a 16-year-old Canadian discovered that his two parents were actually not Canadian, but KGB spies living under fake names Donald and Tracey.
Til the program for theeradication program of the screwworm has been stopped... It eats everything made from meat. Including humans....
TIL: The only country who has successfully invoked NATO Article 5 is the USA after the attacks on September 11.
TIL Winnie-the-Pooh was originally named "Edward." They renamed the stuffed bear Winnie after meeting a black bear at the London Zoo with the same name. "Pooh" comes from a swan the creator AA Milne and his son encountered that they named Pooh.
