› added 11 years ago

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TIL A woman once called 911 because her ex boyfriend was threatening her with a knife and after three hours of no police showing up and having to repeatedly call 911 the dispatcher ended the call by saying “I really don’t give a shit what happens to you”

gMl08 TIL Standard Arabic, the Arabic taught in a majority of schools, is based off of the language Prophet Mohammad spoke. It is a language that nobody naturally speaks, and is preserved through formal education and news broadcasts. Egyptian Arabic is the most widely-understood dialect
awm1A TIL Queen Elizabeth II specifically asked to be in a James Bond skit with Daniel Craig for the Olympics, breaking royal protocol. When asked if she would like to say something she said, "Of course I must say something. After all, he is coming to rescue me."
rROBo TIL The term slush fund was originally a nautical term: the slush was the fat or grease skimmed from the top of the cauldron when boiling salted meat. Ship officers would sell the fat to tallow makers, with the resulting proceeds kept as a slush fund for making small purchases for the ship's crew.
X0LEE TIL that in the first administration of the SAT in 1926, test takers had to solve 315 questions in 97 minutes - one question every 18.5 seconds.
5YkY9 TIL the Far Side was so significant in the 80s that when a cartoon was printed which was hard to understand, creator Gary Larsson felt the need to issue a press release expressing his regret & explaining the joke