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TIL of the first English teacher in Japan — Ranald MacDonald. A bank clerk turned sailor, he taught 14 samurai English while he was held as prisoner.

Read more japantimes.co.jp

via reddit.com

neQY7 TIL about "mad honey": it's honey collected from bees that have fed on rhododendron flowers, and it causes hallucinations and intoxication
Y7pPx TIL about Fordlandia, a city in Brazil that Henry Ford tried to build as a social Utopia. The city had different neighborhoods, the white American one with running water and great views, and the local one with well water. Still a city today, but no longer a social experiment.
wLbv1 TIL whales and dolphins are not really fish, they have lungs and they have to come to the surface of the water to breathe. whales can hold their breath for more than an hour.
W71xd TIL that excess human food is harmful to wildlife. So we can't just dump all the leftovers into a forest or something and let them do whatever with it, choosing landfills and even poisoning supermarket dumpsters instead...
GeD4 TIL that 2 towns in Greece have a firework war every year shooting thousands of rockets at each other. The objective hit the church bell of the opposing town.