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TIL the poverty line in America was designed assuming every family had a housewife who was a skillful cook.

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Z8d44 TIL Pan Am's 1930s passenger seaplanes from San Francisco to China had to refuel 5 times, so they operated luxury hotels for overnight layovers in remote places like Midway Islands, where its' Pan Am Hotel was known as "Gooneyville Lodge".
xQN1 TIL Noah Webster wanted “women” spelled like “wimmen” and “tongue” spelled like “tung”.
5Yj0P TIL Thanks to Yuan LongPing, China’s total rice output rose from 5.69 billion tons in 1950 to 19.47 billion tons in 2000. In recent years, hybrid rice has covered an area of 16millions ha, accounting for 57% of total rice area in China
16DBr TIL of Phryne(meaning "toad") an ancient greek escort who became obscenely rich. After Alexander the Great destroyed her native Thebes she offered to rebuild the city walls at her own expense under one stipulation: a sign on the wall reading "Destroyed by Alexander-rebuild by Phryne the courtesan"
Wk7KB TIL that Balthasar Gérard, assassin of William I of Orange (ancestor of the Dutch monarchy) received a torture and execution that was gruesome even by the standards of his time. Part of the execution decree stated that "his heart should be torn from his bosom and flung in his face."