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482

TIL why "w" is pronounced double-u. The Roman alphabet did not have the letter"w" so when Latin was first used in Old English, they needed to invent a symbol for the sound made by "w" - so they made it "uu" (there was no "v" in Old English). 400 years later, Norman scribes conjoined it to become "w"

Y74vW TIL that Shirley Temple's daughter was for several years the bass player for sludge rock band The Melvins
6EgRW TIL the language you grow up speaking determines how quickly you will learn to count. Chinese speaking children learn to count to 100 an entire year earlier than their English speaking counterparts.
l7YoN TIL That the majority of Purple Hearts issued to the US military over the last seventy five years were produced in 1945. In anticipation of high casualties for the unrealized invasion of Japan high production of the medal resulted in an end of war surplus of almost 500 000.
6EYMm TIL: Howard Buffet, son of Billionaire Warren Buffet's, has donated untold millions in wildlife conservation, with his largest donation being $24m in 2014 to Kruger National Park in South Africa to purchase military grade helicopters and reconnaissance drones to track illegal poaching
PYy1L TIL At the 1896 Olympics, American Robert Garrett decided to enter the discus event; “to have a try”. He had never thrown a regulation discus in his life. Attendees were laughing, as his first 2 throws narrowly missed hitting audience members. However, his 3rd throw won him the gold medal.