› added 6 years ago

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TIL (In Australia) Coins are only considered legal tender up to a limit. That is $5 in any combination of silver (50c, 20c, 10c and 5c), $10 in $1 coins and $20 in $2 coins. So $35 with 120 coins is the most annoying way you can demand to pay for something (10x$2, 10x$1 and 100x5c).

a8EOZ TIL Katharine Hepburn- the person with the current record Academy Awards for acting (4)- never accepted the Oscars because she didn't believe in the concept, saying her work was its own prize. She did attend the ceremony, once, though, for other reasons.
e0L94 TIL Thomas Midgley Jr, who helped invent leaded petrol, once poured the lead additive over his hands and inhaled its fumes to prove it was safe. He was later diagnosed with lead poisoning... for the second time.
vPeQK TIL the Grand Canyon is listed at just 7th in the world on a list of "greatest ravines".
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.
D10lY TIL that Denis Vrain-Lucas made hundreds of thousands of francs by forging letters written by historical figures. It took fifteen years for him to be caught, even though his letters (many supposedly by ancient Romans or Biblical figures) were all in modern French, and written on watermarked paper.