› added 5 years ago

310

TIL that empty space expands faster than the speed of light.

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grXV8 TIL about Mounts of Piety, a non-profit precursor to pawn shops that offered reasonably priced loans to the poor as an alternative to usurious loans. Mexico's Nacional Monte de Piedad still operates to this day.
D1AMY TIL in China they can count to ten using just one hand using a type of sign that everyone uses. 6 is the western 'hang loose' gesture. 7 a snake head, 8 a finger gun, nine an index finger hook and 10 a cross or closed fist.
VByVm TIL a single clam lived through the reigns of multiple empires and was over 500 years old.
M7gKA TIL after US President Wilson had a stroke in 1919, his wife Edith Wilson limited his access to just his doctor and few close associates, and acted as the president's proxy and effectively ran the White House, and by extension the country, by extolling access to the president.
v1OML TIL of "Operation Snow White", an operation carried out by the Church of Scientology, was one of the largest infiltration of the US government in history.