› added 11 years ago

100

TIL Sweden tried out a 0.003% financial transaction (robin hood) tax, and it resulted in the volume of bond trading falling by 85% in the first week.

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94m6 TIL that professional bowlers used to out-earn professional football and baseball players.
P1eyO TIL a Dutch pirate captured the Spanish treasure fleet sailing from the New World in 1628. The loss of silver alone was so great that the silver price spiked worldwide, and Spain was nearly bankrupted.
bea0 TIL several European countries prescribe free heroin to addicts in order to improve there “social and health situation” while “significantly reduce[ing] costs incurred by trials, incarceration, health interventions and delinquency.”
8ap8K TIL that the town of Wellsville, NY was named for a man named Gardiner Wells, who was, according to local history, the one person who didn't show up for the meeting when the residents were naming the town.
xVPw7 TIL that the pecan industry's success is due to a slave named Antoine, who was a gardener and expert grafter of pecan trees. In 1876, nuts from Antoine's trees were displayed alongside Bell's telephone, the Remington typewriter, Heinz ketchup, and the right arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty.