› added 7 years ago

62

TIL there’s a train from NYC that will drop you off at the Appalachian Trail

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via ift.tt

wLNwJ TIL Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of prostitutes.
ErVx TIL Sperm whales are so called because their heads are filled with large amounts of oily fluid, which whalers thought was sperm. Scientists still aren’t sure what it’s there for
kOK01 TIL a random British captain was chosen by George Washington to be executed in response to a hanging by loyalists which itself was in retaliation for another death. The allied French got involved after the French mother of the captain petitioned and he was released
Breky TIL that the Hijra (transgender) community in India and Pakistan use a secret language called Hijra Farsi, which originated more than 200 years ago due to government persecution. The language is introduced to newcomers when they enter the community, together with the group’s other traditions
4D6N TIL Gandhi received a British medal for helping to suppress black South Africans, said that Hitler was “not a bad man”, and disallowed his wife from taking penicillin for pneumonia, from which she then died (he was against “alien medicine”). Later, he “allowed doctors to save his life with quinine”.