› added 5 years ago

132

TIL only one word has ended the Scripps Spelling Bee twice: "eczema."

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NmAE TIL that the southern United States converted all its railroads from broad gauge (5 feet/1.524 meters) to standard gauge (4 feet 8 1⁄2 inches/​1.435 meters) in 36 hours starting on May 31, 1886
ADl7 TIL that the traffic jam in the Italian Job is real due to the Turin authorities refusing to close the roads; this led the Mafia to step in and cause one themselves
KKBa TIL New Amsterdam was given to the Duke of York in 1664 as an 18th birthday present from his father. He then renamed the city New York.
e0ZK5 TIL that Harry Houdini’s first public performance was at age 9 as a trapeze artist, billing himself as “Ehrich Prince of the Air“
g9WX TIL that the concurrent Navy training and testing could potentially kill hundreds of whales and dolphins and disable thousands over the next five years.