› added 12 years ago

179

TIL a town in England completely turned off their traffic lights

Read more wimp.com

via reddit.com

XERER TIL, the author of Mary Had a Little Lamb, Sarah Josepha Hale, is most responsible for the creation of Thanksgiving being a national holiday.
P1Wge TIL: Seiji Yoshida WW2 memoir, "My War Crimes" detailing his many war crimes against comfort women became a hit and even used by George Hicks, the NYT, etc. It even spread across Korea. However, after his death, his son revealed he made up his war crimes for money as he was poor after the war.
l70g5 TIL if you work for the Federal government and own an airplane, you can get reimbursed mileage if you travel in your privately owned airplane at a rate of $1.76 per mile (as of Jan 1, 2024).
loEkV TIL the word "emoji" comes from the Japanese characters "e" (picture) and "moji" (letter or character), and has nothing to do with the English word "emotion"
woVP1 TIL Humans swallow at between 500-700 times a day, around three times an hour during sleep, once per minute while awake and (obviously) even more during meals.