› added 1 week ago

TIL in Maryland, there is a mariner celebration of burning socks on the equinox, since mariners only wear socks in the winter.

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via reddit.com

6EDYY TIL only 1% of DNA is for protein-coding genes, the rest 99% is non-coding and was once thought to be junk. Later studies found that it can't be that such a huge chunk is just "packaging material" and it is starting to become clear that it has many uses, mainly as a regulator of different sorts
xV1Qk TIL about the Gnostic Gospels. Early Christian texts that claim the creator god from the old testament is actually the devil and salvation can only be reached through a personal relationship with an abstract higher power.
Xpj6 TIL a woman who claimed to be a survivor of the 9/11 attacks and even became the president of World Trade Centers Survivors Support Group turned out to be lying and wasn’t even in the United States during the attacks.
gMa5D TIL Milk Duds (the candy) were dubbed Milk Duds because they were flawed. The original intention was for the candy to be perfectly round. When they came out awkwardly misshapen, they were dubbed "Duds"
R7XL4 TIL 'Big Bird' has a mexican cousin called 'Abelardo Montoya', who was the main character of Mexico's version of Plaza Sésamo. Later many countries created their own versions, all Big Bird's cousins.