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

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yVjYv TIL "Cut off your nose to spite your face" There is a version that this phrase has a rather curious origin. Saint Ebbe was said to have severed her own nose to dissuade violation by Viking raiders.
DQvEv TIL according to a 1984 case report: a patient survived acute alcohol intoxication with an unprecedented blood alcohol level of 1,500 mg/dL (or 1.5%).
E1Apw TIL that US and British colonization of remote islands was driven by demand for bird poop used as fertilizer and in manufacture of gun powder.
rN0y1 TIL the Soviet Union nearly launched a nuclear attack on China in 1969, only the intervention of the United States stopped them
Egkrd TIL brunette Vikings—usually men—would use a strong soap with a high lye content to bleach their hair. In some regions, beards were lightened as well.