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TIL that one of the most famous portraits in history, Girl With a Pearl Earring, is not a portrait at all. Portraits are of specific people. 'Pearl Earring' is a 'tronie', a painting intentionally designed not to look like anyone at all.

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VMKwZ TIL that before 1954, stop signs used to be yellow with black lettering. This was because there was no red dye that would not fade over time. However, by 1954, sign makers began using a fade-resistant porcelain enamel, and it was declared that stop signs would be red with white lettering.
xkoB TIL that the Singer and founder of the band Bad Religion has a Ph.D in zoology and lectured courses at UCLA.
7rdZ7 TIL Honduras in 2000 tried to ban parents from giving children names like Motor or Bujia (Spark Plug).
Ppan TIL that the reason for hilarious Mandarin-English mistranslations (specifically in grocery stores) is because the first variation of the syllable pronounced “GAN” means “dry”, but the fourth variation translates to “fuck”.
4kEkb TIL About the Edgewood Arsenal human experiment project conducted by the US Army chemical corps from 1948-1975 during which 7,000 soldiers were exposed to various nerve agents to test their results.