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TIL During the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, up to 90% of the Damage was Caused Not by the Quake, but by the Subsequent 30+ Fires

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Jv0V TIL that the Dana Carvey Show, which aired just 7 episodes in 1996, had a writing team that included Louis C.K., Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Bob Odenkirk, Charlie Kaufman. Robert Smigel, Dino Stamatopoulous (Starburns from Community) and more.
xoww TIL the “X” in “Xmas” isn’t a way to avoid mentioning Christ. “X” represents Chi (χ), the first Greek letter of Χριστός (“Christ”). “Christ” has been abbreviated “X” in English for centuries, as it was in Greek.
nWm1b TIL about the MV Liemba, a ferry on Lake Tanganyika, which was laid down in 1913 in Germany. It served as a WWI warship and it sunk twice, first deliberately in 1916 and again in 1920 due to a storm. It was raised again in 1924 and it is operating almost nonstop since 1927
oKpY TIL a common prank in the 1800s involved putting the end of a thread from a spool through a clothes seam and getting unsuspecting strangers to try to pull out what they think is a loose thread. The spool unwound as they pulled, and the prankster enjoyed a jolly good laugh.
j6x1n TIL about parfilage, a fashionable pastime among upper class ladies in 18th century France in which they would painstakingly destroy textile goods, thread by thread in a deliberate reversal of normal "women's work", sometimes even having things made specifically for that purpose