› added 10 years ago

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TIL that the term ‘gargoyle’ only refers to carved stone figures in Gothic architecture that function as water spouts. Any other figure is considered a 'grotesque’.

Vpr8 TIL in the Roman Empire, to increase the dwindling population of the upper class, families with three children were given tax exemption. Many sought loopholes to get the benefits without the burden of three kids, resulting in a network of government spies and informers to catch them.
B8Yb TIL there’s a growing group of people in and around Detriot, MI who have taken it upon themselves to cut the grass at otherwise neglected public parks in the city using their own equipment. They’re called ‘The Mower Gang’ - check them out!
vPbox TIL that just 24 hours after 9/11, 5 players of Chelsea FC went on a five-hour drinking binge in an hotel packed with American tourists stranded by flight cancellations, just after a match they were supposed to play in Bulgaria had been called off as a mark of respect for victims of the attacks
ZrVR TIL: Winston Churchill refused to ever again stay in the Lincoln Bedroom within the White house after Lincoln’s ghost apparently appeared to him beside the fireplace as he was emerging from a bath, fully nude.
pY7n8 TIL I learned about the State Partnership Program (SPP), a program in which U.S states partner up with one or two foreign countries by sending their respective National Guards to assist with training and humanitarian aid (Ex: California and Ukraine, Illinois and Poland, Texas and Egypt, etc).