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TIL that the term and concept of "jay-walking" was introduced in the 1920's by the auto industry as part of a propaganda campaign to claim the roads for cars and shift the blame in accidents from cars to pedestrians. At the time "Jay" was a slur with a similar meaning to "redneck" or "hillbilly."

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via reddit.com

Ooyv6 TIL that Geoffrey Tandy, a marine biologist who specialised in cryptogams (algae, moss, etc.), was recruited to a secret British codebreaking organization during WWII because the Ministry of Defence confused “cryptogamist” with “cryptogramist.” Tandy ended up helping to crack the Enigma code anyway.
5VvBP TIL about the SS Sultana sinking, which killed over 1,100 people in the deadliest maritime disaster in U.S. history. It exploded on the Mississippi River in 1865 while carrying six times its legal passenger capacity.
roQw TIL A man can divorce his wife in Islam simply by saying ‘Talaq’ ('I divorce you’) three times to his wife.
49ob TIL that after losing his wife and two children due to a mid-air collision, Vitaly Kaloyev murdered the Air Traffic Controller responsible in front of the Air Traffic Controller’s kids and wife, spent 3 years in prison and returned back to Russia as a hero
gJO8 TIL there was an 18th-century racehorse named Potoooooooo. His name was originally Potatoes, but when his owner told the stable boy to write his name on a feed bin, he misheard it as “pot-eight-o’s”. The owner found it so funny that he kept it as the horse’s name.