› added 10 years ago

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TIL that Groom Kidnapping is a phenomenon in some parts of India wherein eligible bachelors are abducted by the bride’s family and later forcefully married, to avoid heavy dowry costs.

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paZO TIL the word dude originally referred to an 1880s hipster.
b6o59 TIL that gunpowder was accidentally discovered when Chinese alchemists tried to develop a "fountain of youth" potion.
OGGKY TIL, that explorer Alexander Mackenzie and crew travelled a total of 4800km by canoe and portage in 1789 to the Arctic Ocean and back from Fort Chipewyan. 4 years later, in 1793, they travelled 3700km from Fort Fork to the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to find new routes for the fur trade.
e0kog TIL one of the 'unwritten rules' of the Tour de France: if the Tour is passing through where one of the riders grew up, everyone will slow down to let that rider lead the whole Tour through his hometown (also, if the race leader needs to stop to take a pee break, everyone else slows down/stops too)
rraW TIL a man who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for shooting with intent to kill and robbery requested that his sentence was extended to 33 years, to match Larry Bird’s NBA jersey number. The request was granted.