› added 2 days ago

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TIL that the Irish Crown Jewels have nothing to do with royalty. They were made for the Grand Master of the Order of St Patrick.

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rNOro TIL that the Roman Emperor Augustus personally owned the entire country of Egypt as his own personal estate
0Zkj TIL that in 1975, the Food and Drug Administration ruled that Pringles cannot legally call themselves “Potato chips” because they’re not made from sliced potatoes. Also, in the UK, the company tried to argue that Pringles weren’t chips (“crisps” in the UK) because chips are subject to a 17.5% VAT
vPXGx TIL the belief that back blows will make choking worse is a myth largely spread by Dr Heimlich in his campaign to discredit the technique
M7MP8 TIL: Around 41.6 percent of Americans are nearsighted, up from 25 percent in 1971. Projections suggest that almost 50 percent of the world will be myopic by 2050.
kOW9m TIL that since Mount Rushmore is carved out of solid granite, which erodes 1 inch every 10,000 years, the basic shape of the faces will last up to 7 million years (though their noses will only last 2 million)