› added 8 months ago

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TIL that Hebrew, Aramaic, Kurdish, Arabic, Persian, and other languages all have almost same word for "peace [be unto you]" as a standard greeting (generally with a raised hand, to show peace). (E.G. Shalom - Shelam 'alakh - Salam-alaykum - Salam)

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R7O4w TIL that speed readers were asked to read a text without knowing that every other line came from a different source yet they didn't notice it. In another study, speed readers scored 68% in a standard comprehension test, but the tests were so easy that people who never read the material scored 57%
XD7Q TIL that Burger King sells a $200 burger that is made with Wagyu Beef, white truffles, Pata Negra ham and Crystal champagne onion straws. The burger is only sold once per week in London and proceeds from the sale goes to a London charity.
MPgW TIL that a woman believed “crunch berries” in Cap'n crunch were actual fruit for years, and attempted to sue Pepsico when she found out they weren’t. The judge dismissed it as “common sense” knowledge.
0wjA5 TIL life is really older than the trees in West Virginia. About a century ago, the state was almost completely deforested from farming, logging, and wildfire. Of the 16 million original acres of forest, only 263 remain. Now it's covered in forest again.
6E4oJ TIL JFK’s PT-109 patrol boat came under attack near the Solomon Islands, and sunk. Swam 3.5 miles to the island. He then etched an SOS message into a coconut shell, asked two natives to deliver it to a nearby base in order to arrange for their rescue. He later turned the shell into a paper weight.