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TIL that in 1962 a Japanese man became the first person to sail across the Pacific solo. He was arrested when he arrived in San Francisco for not having a passport or money.

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xVbB0 TIL The dictator of Burma (Myanmar) was obsessed with numerology. He removed 50 Kyat and 100 Kyat banknotes from circulation. Replaced them with 45 Kyat and 90 Kyat banknotes. The economic instability which followed led to a coup d'êtát in 1988.
6EgRW TIL the language you grow up speaking determines how quickly you will learn to count. Chinese speaking children learn to count to 100 an entire year earlier than their English speaking counterparts.
rRQQo TIL when Mayhem's lead singer Dead committed suicide, the group's guitarist Euronymous made necklaces of his skull and gave them to members of the black metal community. This act made bassist Necrobutcher quit; his replacement, Varg Vikernes, murdered Euronymous 2 years later.
BrQVe TIL that a 9-year-old boy decided he wanted to help the families of fallen US soldiers. He started a Facebook page and eventually traded up to $900 worth of Disney gift certificates, airfare and hotel credits. He then gave the trip to a 2-year-old girl who had lost her father in Afghanistan.
neODY TIL the bluefin tuna is one of the fastest accelerating fish reaching a maximum of 3.27 G, or approximately 32 ms^-2. It would reach a speed of 144 mph if the tuna did it for 2 seconds. That's faster than any car. The bluefin tuna's top speed is roughly 44 mph.