› added 7 years ago

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TIL that the word "ninja" is actually pronounced "shinobi" in the native kun'yomi kanji reading. It is a shortened form of "shinobi-no-mono," which translates closely to "stealthy person." "Ninja" is an on'yomi, a pronunciation of the names of the two Japanese letters that make up the term.

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rR640 TIL that a 1631 edition of the Bible published by the royal printers of London caused an uproar when it was found that the Ten Commandments included “thou shalt commit adultery.” Most copies of this Wicked Bible were found and ordered destroyed; the few that survived are highly sought by collectors.
p8Rdp TIL a Polish man received a building permit for a single-family home in the 1980s, he then spent his fortune building a 52-room castle, with 365 windows and 12 turrets. Once the authorities found out, they put an end to construction, he's still fighting with them now, 35 years later, to complete it.
yQyLl TIL in 1934 Josef Stalin lost re-election to General Secretary of the Communist Party 292 against, and only 3 for. 290 of the votes were deleted from the official records, leaving him the winner by 1 vote.
loP91 TIL that on November 21st 1964 the FBI sent a package to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and in it was a letter that instructed him to commit suicide.
yVA0J TIL whilst running for Governor of Alabama in 1962, former Governor Jim Folsom appeared drunk in a TV advertisement. This further helped his former protégé George C. Wallace defeat him in the primary.