› added 3 years ago

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TIL about the Totnes Orange Race. It's an event held every year where people chase oranges down a street. It's based on a story involving Sir Frances Drake bumping into a delivery of oranges which caused children to chase after them since they were an expensive fruit at the time.

4kONo TIL Tipping in restaurants is originally a European custom that used to be considered a "Deeply Un-American" practice, stemming from racial and political issues, long before becoming entrenched in American life more than any other country.
d8oOj TIL New Jersey has a program called "Mobile Response", which is an emergency service for parents and children. If your child is having a meltdown, or is violent, or is disabled, or is addicted, and you can't cope, you can call a number and have someone come help you 24/7.
nWjlr TIL that after his defeat by Caesar at the Battle of Thapsus, Cato the Younger read Plato’s Phaedo and stabbed himself in the stomach, he was found alive and stitched up but when he awoke he ripped his stitches and disemboweled himself
PYG0G TIL there is a collection agency that specializes in collecting library late fees, and have collected over $1 billion in fines on behalf of 2,000 libraries
Zp9dY TIL of Dr. Farrokhroo Parsa, physician, women's right's activist, and Pahlavi Iran's first female cabinet minister. She was executed for "prostitution" after the Islamic revolution: "I am prepared to receive death with open arms rather than live in shame by being forced to be veiled."