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TIL that among high schoolers in Japan, asking for or receiving the 2nd button from a boy's school uniform during graduation is a confession of love. This is because the 2nd button is closest to the heart.

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via reddit.com

6EMNJ TIL on average Mercury, not Mars or Venus, is the closest planet to Earth
QJ8Wk TIL there has been a fire burning since 1962 underneath the borough of Centralia, Pennsylvania causing residents to evacuate and has turned the town into a "near-ghost town" with only 7 residents left.
a9bo TIL that George Clooney was paid only 1$ for writing, directing, and acting in “Good Night, and Good Luck”, and even put his house on mortgage to pay for its production.
p8Ym8 Imagine you spent your entire childhood, teenage years, and young adulthood stuck inside a small closet. One day, after much of your life, has passed you by, you realize that you can just open up the door, change into some more appropriate clothes, and hit the town! Free at last, what would you do first? Maybe sing a bit? Go on a few dates? By the way, you have two to four weeks to live. Yikes. This is not unlike the situation most cicadas face, as they spend almost their entire lives underground. For example, many of the cicadas emerging in 2016 have been underground for 17 years! To put that in perspective, the last Star Wars movie these insects saw was literally a menace. Imagine waking up in a world without Smash Mouth and Sugar Ray! Come to think of it, things are really looking up since 1999. A cicada’s ear-piercing call is intended to attract a gal pal. Considering that these little creatures’ time above ground is so fleeting, they need to lock down a date as soon as possible. This could be why most cicadas are louder than the average fraternity pledge. Adult males are the ones making such a racket, and some species can register sounds louder 100 decibels when calling for a potential mate. In this week’s Today I Learned, National Geographic Emerging Explorer and filmmaker Sandesh Kadur explains how cicadas sing such a loud song.
PL4J TIL Henry VIII had someone who’s job it was to wipe his bottom for him. They were called ‘Grooms of the Stool’ and Henry VIII had 4 of them during his reign, all of whom were knighted!