› added 6 years ago

79

TIL Ocho de Plata, the Spanish Dollar, was the first legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857. In fact, equity shares were still quoted in eighths of a dollar until 2001; this was a legacy from the coin’s divisibility by 8, since each Spanish Dollar was worth 8 reales.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

l8KV TIL tall men are more likely to have children and be in relationships than short men.
BPgd TIL that in 1986, nurse Sandra Clarke could not stay with a patient who asked her to stay. When she returned, the patient had died alone. In 2001, she was key in starting No One Dies Alone, a program where volunteers sit with terminal patients who have no one else. The program is now world-wide.
1g8P TIL Sears used to sell entire houses in a DIY kit
YwDx TIL that one developer of the smash arcade hit NBA JAM deliberately coded the game in a way that if you were playing as the Bulls against his Pistons, your shooting percentage would be completely awry, especially near the end of a close game.
DQQDr TIL Scientists Make Simulated Moondust, JSC-1 simulant, to use to test equipment intended for The Moon. It is very abrasive, which grinds machinery & seals, & damages human lungs.