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TIL children born in Iceland to Icelandic women and American or British servicemen were often given the last name Hansson meaning “his son” as their fathers were either unknown or had left Iceland.

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MeXJa TIL that the term "Sushi-grade" is a marketing term which means little to nothing about safety or the quality of the fish. In fact, previously frozen fish is often safer than fresh fish to eat raw due to parasitic destruction during the freezing process.
4XaKX TIL inmates at Riker's Island are paid $1 an hour to bury unclaimed bodies on Hart Island. I also learned that Hart Island is a place in NYC that used to house an insane asylum for women, city jails, and a "reformatory for vicious boys."
M77Va TIL the Irish Guards have had an Irish Wolfhound as a mascot since 1902. The current one is called Seamus
loO77 TIL in 1493, Columbus thought he saw mermaids. "They were not as pretty as depicted, for somehow in the face they looked like men" he wrote. Today it is suspected that he saw a manatee.
4kb0J TIL about the Cobra effect, referring to a time in the British Raj when people were offered a bounty for every dead cobra. Soon, ppl started breeding cobras for a reward which in turn forced the government to stop the rewards. In response, people released their captive cobras into the wild.