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TIL: Advent Calendars were originally called "Nicholas Calendars" and we're given out on December 6th.

Read more weihnachtsmuseum.de

via reddit.com

dX98 TIL a new prototype engine will allow travel from London to Australia in 4 hours.
MmVW TIL a Human Nutrition professor ate mainly Hostess snack cakes for two months to prove That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most – not the nutritional value of the food.
Wkj8N TIL that The Netherlands has such a low crime rate, it imports criminals from other countries such as Norway to fill their jails due to a lack of prisoners.
Vag4 TIL Vatican once invited Stephen Hawking to a conference where he had an audience with the Pope. Pope John Paul had trouble understanding Hawking and knelt down beside his wheelchair to hear him better, prompting one scientist to comment that “things certainly have changed since Galileo.”
8elLa TIL that before Lincoln Center could reward David Geffen's $100 Million donation by renaming "Avery Fisher Hall" to "David Geffen Hall", they had to pay the heirs of Fisher - the original donor - $15 million. Geffen's donation has a provision that requires his name to be on the hall "in perpetuity".