› added 7 years ago

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TIL that there are several organizations that sell only one shoe instead of a pair for amputees, so they don’t have to buy a pair of shoes when they only need one. They also accept donations of the unused shoes that amputees don’t need, if they bought a pair and only need one.

yVO0a TIL despite their strong 'drinking culture', it's actually against the law for Brits to get drunk inside a pub. The punishment for the crime is a fine of up to £200.
v1xGB TIL that when future Czar Nicholas II visited Japan in 1891, he came back to Russia with a dragon tattoo and was nearly assassinated by a Japanese policeman who swung a sword at his face
M7oka TIL of The Novgorod Codex. It is the oldest book of Kievan Rus', unearthed on 13 July 2000 in Novgorod. It is a palimpsest consisting of three bound wooden tablets containing four pages filled with wax, on which its former owner wrote down dozens, probably hundreds of texts.
VMe44 TIL Scott Joplin the man who revolutionized the way piano is played was turned away from backing of financial suitors because he was black and it didn't suit them. He ended up contracting syphilis and was admitted into a psychiatric hospital. He died ther and his grave was unmarked for 57 years.
6EjDl TIL that in 2012 the charity Kids Wish Network raised $18.6 million but only spent around one percent of this amount ($240,000) on granting childrens' wishes. The organisation had spent $110 million on solicitors over the prior decade.