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116

TIL that the English language doesn’t have any official authority or academy

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rLQo TIL The world is divided into 6 floral kingdoms. All these kingdoms encompass several countries. South Africa, which has a floral kingdom wholly contained within the country, is the one exception. The Cape Floral Kingdom has 9,600 plant species, 70% of which are not found anywhere else in the world
E1Box TIL that during a flight to America the 'Hindenburg' hovered over a random English town and dropped a bouquet of flowers, then ascended and continued its journey. A note attached to the bouquet read: please deposit these flowers and cross on the grave of my dear brother, POW [in the local cemetery]"
b6mK9 TIL Étienne Léopold Trouvelot, a French entomologist, living in Medford, Mass. in the late 1800s, decided to create a cross-breed of caterpillars from native North American moths and European caterpillars Lymantria dispar, in order to start a competitive silk industry. (rest of the story in comment)
WkVbY TIL from 1982-1983, three men in Allentown PA competed in a radio contest in which they lived on top of a billboard in tents. Whoever stayed up longest would win a house. Due to economic pressure from the recession, none of the contestants wanted to give up, so the contest lasted almost 9 months.
edoJ TIL Elon Musk of Tesla Motors on being asked to comment on Artificial Intelligence said that it was humans greatest existential threat and was like summoning a Demon