› added 10 years ago

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TIL There is a town in China where some people have Caucasian-like physical traits, such as Aquiline noses, blond or light-colored hair, blue or green eyes, and fairer skin tone, leading some people to create myths of them being descended from a lost legion of Romans.

mDYy TIL President Johnson once grabbed Canadian Prime Minister Pearson by the lapels and shouted: “Don’t you come into my living room and piss on my rug” after a disagreement about Vietnam war
GDWQ TIL: In 2006 a Norweigan coach gave a ski pole to a Canadian, allowing her to go on to win a silver medal. Canadians citizens were so touched they collectively gave him 5.2 tonnes of Maple Syrup.
0wNoN TIL in the 17th century, black cats were burned bc they were "the devil". Black cats were spared if they possessed a small amount of white fur anywhere on their bodies, thought of as "God's thumbprint". 95% of black cats today have a small white spot on their chest due to the "UN-natural selection".
GARaj TIL about Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a pioneering female codebreaker who decrypted mob codes during prohibition and busted up Nazi spy rings in South America, yet was robbed of her due credit by J. Edgar Hoover and died in obscurity in 1980, never revealing her immense wartime service.
Bgvjd TIL: Viking-era Scandinavians believed every person had a sort of luck spirit that could leave the body under extreme circumstances. The English saying that someone’s luck has run out is actually an adaptation of a Norse proverb. But when the Norse said it, they meant it literally.