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TIL the Finnish government recently invested €98 million in a new central library. Finnish writers receive library royalties—they are almost as much per borrowed book as the royalty for each paperback sold.

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9eG7 TIL that the U.S. department of state ranks 70 world languages based on how difficult they are for an English speaker to learn. Among the easiest are French and Italian. Among the hardest are Arabic and Chinese.
wLGQ6 TIL Ronald Reagan had planned an active post-presidency, but his Alzheimer's disease made him cancel those plans and spend less time on public appearances.
PY9pV TIL that in 1987 Steve Rothstein took advantage of the AAirpass (a promotion by American Airlines that let people pay a one time $250,000 and have a lifetime of unlimited flights) and quit his job so he could fly continuously. This ended up costing the airline more than 21 million.
1mar TIL California has been the subject of more than 220 proposals to divide it into multiple states, only 27 of which are serious.
GAVxE TIL that roughly 1/3 of Japan's population live in just the Tokyo Metropolitan Area