› added 4 years ago

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TIL Graveyards for unclaimed remains are called "potter's field" because "potter's fields" were places where clay was harvested, and left with unfilled holes and barren soil. Historically, they were used as a cheap and efficient way to inter unclaimed human remains, on land nobody wanted.

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4Xj0J TIL that child run lemonade stands are illegal in 36 states without a permit.
7K9x TIL that by coincidence the first British soldier to be killed in WW1 was buried a few feet from the last British soldier to be killed in WW1 in a war cemetery in Belgium.
Oo784 TIL people with high IQ can suffer from dysrationalia, meaning that they are extremely susceptible to cognitive bias and stupid decision making
p8VZp TIL That a man claims a taco saved his life in a shooting. The man said he would normally have had his window down with his arm on the edge, but he had it up because he didn't want pieces of his taco flying around. The bullet hit the window and deflected.
7r6RX TIL that the US uses customary units of measurement that, prior to 1959, were slightly bigger than the imperial system units. The Mendenhall Order established a set conversion rate between the US and metric systems, causing discrepancies with the imperial system over time.