› added 8 months ago

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TIL that children in ancient China learned to write from "Thousand Character Text", a 1000-word poem where the characters do not repeat and cover everything from philisophy to astrology.

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Oox07 TIL that the same US textbooks have different political leanings in different states that they are sold in though they are sold as the same books
P14wZ TIL: There was an activist group in the UK named Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, or CIRCA in 2003-2005. In 2005, a clown gathering prompted the deployment of 10,000 officers. The group declined after operation HA.HA.HAA (Helping Authorities House Arrest Half-witted Authoritarian Androids).
M7Oa7 TIL that Scottish inventor Robert Anderson created the first true electric car in the 1830s
R7Dd9 TIL if you're having trouble at a Japanese Rail Ticket Machine, a secret hatch will pop open next to the machine and a helper will pop out of it to manually finish the transaction for you.
Aoxa TIL that Howard Stern ran for Governor of New York in 1994 promising to limit road work to night hours. He eventually withdrew, but later that year, The Howard Stern Bill was signed into law which limited road construction in New York City and Long Island to night hours.