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TIL When the Spanish arrived in the Yucatan peninsula the first Spanish explorers asked what the area was called and the response they received, “Yucatan,” was a Yucatec Maya word meaning “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

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Rrp7 TIL when Japanese women laugh they often cover their mouths with their hand. This comes from an old Buddhist notion that showing bone is unclean.
p6EQ TIL Puerto Rico is the tip of an enormous ancient mountain that descends more than 30,000 feet to the floor of the Caribbean Sea, taller even than Mount Everest
XpO8 TIL: Israel’s history of selling USA’s secrets to China goes back to the 1980’s. China acquired advanced military tech & weapons from Israel then re-exported to Pakistan, Iran, etc. Also, Israeli military companies opened offices in China for sales. CIA said profit was “several billion dollars.”
kRQB TIL a college student aligned his teeth successfully by 3D printing his own clear braces for less than $60; he’d built his own 3D home printer but fixed his teeth over months with 12 trays he made on his college’s more precise 3D printer.
WkRdd TIL that in 1902, Kaiser Wilhelm II instituted a tax on sparkling wine (Sektsteuer) to build up the German Navy. The tax is still in effect today and is about 1.02 Euro a bottle.