› added 6 years ago

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TIL: North Carolina has an "Unauthorized Substance Tax" where you purchase stamps to show you paid the taxes on your illegal drugs.

Read more ncdor.gov

via reddit.com

rLeM TIL a NJ store owner’s shop got flooded in 1883, soaking his entire stock of taffy in Atlantic Ocean salt water. When a little girl came in and asked if he had taffy, he jokingly offered her some “salt water taffy. The girl happily accepted, word got around, and salt water taffy was born.
6ENo8 TIL a recent study showed that subjects preferred to give themselves electric shocks rather than occupy themselves with their own thoughts for 15 minutes. Most people seem to prefer to be doing something rather than nothing, even if that something is negative
e0Gyb TIL that Kim Pyong-il, Kim Jong-il's brother, was assigned as an ambassador for 40 years to ensure he couldn't influence North Korean politics: he was sent to Yugoslavia in 1979, then to Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic, and didn't return to his home country until 2019.
AD1Ag TIL Berliners love the "currywurst", a sausage topped with curry ketchup, so much, that there have been commemorative coins, novels, plays and movies honoring its invention. By tradition, every candidate for mayor must be photographed in front of a currywurst stand.
b6EX4 TIL Medieval Peasants generally received anywhere from eight weeks to a half-year off. At the time, the Church considered frequent and mandatory holidays the key to keeping a working population from revolting.