› added 10 years ago

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TIL the US gas guzzler tax that was designed to discourage fuel-inefficient vehicles only applies to cars, but not SUVs, trucks, and vans, since they were rarely used as passenger cars when the law was passed in 1978. The law has since not been updated to reflect modern times.

Read more epa.gov

via reddit.com

b6ZyZ TIL about alexithymia, a somewhat common but unstudied condition in which a person is unable to interpret their own emotions despite being able to function normally in every other way
eDG6 TIL Robert Metcalfe predicted in 1995 that the internet would collapse in 1996, and “eat his words” if it did not. In 1997, he blended a printed copy of that speech with liquid and drank the mixture.
Wk6BB TIL a German woman and her son on Christmas Eve 1944 fed and sheltered 3 American and 4 German soldiers in her small cabin in the Huertgen forest. Both sides disarmed themselves for that night, and the next morning the Germans gave their adversaries a compass and directions before leaving.
1ayM8 TIL in the US, people running to represent a congressional district in the US House don't have to live in the congressional district in order to be able to be eligible to run
JyNB TIL that Microsoft Engineers received (anonymized) every query that you asked of Clippy. A lonely woman poured out her every fear and her loneliness to that paperclip while the MS engineers could do nothing but watch her life unfold, one line at a time.