› added 10 years ago

68

TIL that Oklahoma has two official “state vegetables” - Corn and Watermelon - neither of which are actually vegetables.

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oMrK TIL that in 1849, Henry “Box” Brown, a 33 year-old slave born in slavery, mailed himself to freedom in a 3'x2'x2'8" (91x61x81cm) wooden crate. To get a day off, he burned his hand to the bone with sulfuric acid. Brown paid 86$ to be shipped from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia in 27 hours.
4kRLX TIL that a man hijacked a United flight out of Denver, requesting $500,000 and 4 parachutes, and jumping out over Utah - mimicking the infamous D.B. Cooper case and getting caught only because he bragged about being able to do it to an acquaintance just prior
grENA TIL that the oldest surviving creation myth (the Sumerian Eridu Genesis) written in 1600 BCE tells of a massive flood. There is also archaeological evidence that a ‘continuity disrupting’ flood occurred at around 2900 BCE.
5Yjn8 TIL because of Calibri's status as the default font in MS Office, there has been many instances of forged documents being identified because this font was used. A Canadian business owner facing bankruptcy typed 2 trust documents dated before Calibri's release in 2007, exposing them as forged.
X0EGD TIL about censorship in Turkish media. Alcohol and Tobacco products are blurred out and sometimes covered with a flower. Any forms of kissing or love making is banned amongst other things like mentioning brands.