› added 8 years ago

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TIL Australia is the only country in the world to have significant net positive immigration with the US. That is, more people leave the US for Australia than vice versa.

5YRAr TIL the "golden spike" the last spike hammered into the transcontinental railroad, was immediately removed and given to railroad baron Leland Stanford who put on display in Palo Alto, California.
oooA TIL in 2000, the destroyer USS The Sullivans was the target of a failed terror plot in the Port of Aden; the bombers’ suicide boat was so overloaded with explosives that it sank. The culprits were able to salvage the explosives, and 9 months later, used them to attack the USS Cole in the same port.
M7KLB TIL that Neapolitan pizza originated in Italy. Since 2004, Neapolitan pizza has been required by Italian law to have wheat flour, flour yeast, peeled tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, sea salt, and olive oil in order to qualify as pizza.
e0D9E TIL of the Knights of Malta, a sovereign entity (part of the U.N. General Assembly) with 13,500 knights, 40,000 doctors and a further 80,000 volunteers. They have only 2 official citizens, but they still issue passports, coins and postage stamps despite having no physical land or territory
VBGLm TIL Chinese eunuchs, who had both the penis and testicles cut off with a knife at once to qualify as high-ranking civil servants. Eunuchs were considered 'pure', while those under ten were termed 'thoroughly pure'. This system lasted from 146 AD until 1924, and the last Imperial eunuch died in 1996.