› added 10 years ago

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TIL that Toyota was founded by a man named Akio Toyoda, but named Toyota because of Japanese superstition: writing the symbols “Toyota” requires 8 brushstrokes, a lucky number in Japan, while the 10 brushstrokes of “Toyoda” is an inauspicious sign.

dDyEQ TIL that the United States 50 State Quarter program was inspired by Canada making quarters for each province and territory in 1992 for the 125th anniversary of Confederation
XEMwr TIL the only instance of a kid dying from poisoned Halloween candy was when it was given to him by his own father. The father took out a $40,000 life insurance policy on his son beforehand. He gave the tainted candy to four other kids to set up the story that a local madman had poisoned the kids.
gM7L4 TIL in the US in the late 19th Century it was briefly fashionable for people to form "13 Clubs" where they would dine in groups of 13, walk under ladders, spill salt at the table, etc. to demonstrate their lack of superstition. Several future US Presidents participated.
N7XB6 When you have an entire planet to explore, how do you decide where to land the rover? There’s no wrong place to start, according to planetary geologist Bethany Ehlmann. Anywhere on the planet, there's always something new to learn from a rover expedition.
KNDB TIL Häagen-Dazs is actually jibberish that was meant to sound Danish and the company even sued a competitor for daring to use foreign sounding jibberish as their brand name too