› added 3 weeks ago

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TIL: In countries like the UK, Canada, or Australia, if the government can't pass a budget, there is no "shutdown". Instead, the government is forced to resign and new elections are held.

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via reddit.com

awALZ TIL that cotton reusable bags as well as most other reusable bags create a far greater carbon footprint than plastic bags
8yda TIL of Robert Smalls; an escaped slave who captured and sailed a Confederate ship to the Union with 8 enslaved families, including his. He was awarded today’s equivalent of $34,000 for commandeering the ship, won a seat in the House of Representatives, and purchased his former slavemaster’s house.
p8xNO TIL that some 15,000 Nigerian children were branded as witches and most ended up abandoned and living on the streets.
APKa TIL a castaway drifted for 13 months across the Pacific Ocean, claiming that he had been living off fish and turtles he had caught and relying on rainwater, and sometimes his own urine, to drink. His boat was found covered in barnacles and with the carcasses of several turtles littering the deck.
LkkWp TIL why Joe Cocker was so animated when singing: “I guess that came with my frustration at never having played piano or guitar. If you see me nowadays I’m not quite so animated, but it’s just a way of trying to get feeling out — I get excited and it