› added 9 years ago

114

TIL there was once a fifth suit of playing card - a green eagle for the US market and a blue crown for the British.

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9w8yp TIL: San Fransisco has very few cemeteries. But the city was once full of cemeteries. As San Francisco's population rapidly grew, "people turned against the cemeteries". Eventually, most of the cemeteries were dug up and transferred out of the city.
jNWRp TIL that buttplugs were used to treat headaches, insomnia, bad breath, acne, anemia, anorexia, hemorrhoids in the 1900s
X5l6 TIL that a cat named Tama is a manager at a railway station in Japan, a job which pays her in cat food. During her tenure ridership has increased 10%, leading her to be promoted to super-station manager in 2008.
VMMvD TIL Oleic acid, the main constituent of Olive oil, is also emitted by the dead corpses of insects and bees. If a live bee or ant is dabbed with oleic acid, it is dragged off for disposal as if it were dead.
8PDX TIL the swedish writer Astrid Lindgren had to pay 102% tax in 1974. She wrote a satirical short story about it, which likely changed the outcome of the upcoming election.