› added 7 months ago

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TIL that the words "sniping" and "sniper" originated from a hard-to-catch bird called a snipe

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v1jMD TIL Janusz Korczak ran a Jewish orphanage and, when the ~200 orphans were ordered to a death camp, he stayed with them until the end despite multiple opportunities to escape.
epxVE TIL that in 1987, Kenneth Parks drove 20 kilometres in his sleep before attacking and killing his mother-in-law and injuring his father-in-law. He woke up on the way home and turned himself in. He was later found not guilty.
Er7p TIL that the 1990’s Pogs craze was single handedly started by a 5th grade teacher in Hawaii. She showed the game she used to play as a little girl to her class in 1991. Pogs originated from Hawaii as early as 1927.
8JRX TIL a tax return check is actually money that the government borrowed from you - interest free.
6EVN7 TIL: Japanese kitchen knives are a lot sharper than Katana swords since blacksmiths switched from making swords to making knives when the samurai were banned from carrying swords in the 19th century to modernise Japan after the Meiji Restoration.