› added 11 years ago

206

TIL more Americans live in Mexico City than Wyoming.

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lv5A TIL “lb” is descended from the Roman libra (hence the abbreviation “lb”); the name pound is a Germanic adaptation of the Latin phrase libra pondo, ‘a pound by weight’. And that’s why “pound” is abbreviated as “lb”.
VxJB TIL that in the UK ballpoint pens are called biros after their inventor, Laszlo Biro. He fled to Argentina in 1938 to avoid Nazi persecution and made pens for the Royal Air Force during WW2.
oR5xW TIL that prehistoric humans in the Indo-Burma region engaged in turtle and tortoise farming, and are thought to have spread the elongated tortoise beyond its natural range due to using the species as a food source.
60G7 TIL: If someone reports their company for tax evasion in the U.S., he or she will receive 15% to 30% of the amount collected.
QNavp TIL that 2.5% of people are affected by prosopagnosia, or face-blindness. Symptoms include an inability to recognize people you know, and finding a vague familiarity in strangers who bear some resemblance to loved ones. Causes range from genetic to acquired, which sometimes spontaneously resolves.