› added 9 months ago

185

TIL that in many places (in this case specifically, Ontario), the distance to a city on a highway sign isn't to the city limits; it's the distance to the seat of government (usually city hall) by the shortest route.

Read more toronto.citynews.ca

via reddit.com

ANojw TIL: William Duer, a member of George Washington's inner circle was involved in the first American Insider Trading scandal. Using his knowledge of upcoming Treasury actions, he borrowed and took money from the treasury to leverage bond bets. The market then crashed and Hamilton had to rescue it.
5l1P TIL that some Funeral Directors hire people to cry and freak out at funerals. They are called “Professional Mourners”
N7mKE TIL about the Incroyables and Merveilleuses: Aristocratic survivors of the French Revolution who created a macabre and decadent subculture and "greeted one another with violent movements of the head as if in decapitation"
GA5jE TIL the Moon has a smell—like burnt gunpowder. Apollo astronauts noticed it after taking off their helmets inside the lander. The weird part? Lunar dust has nothing in common with gunpowder. Scientists think it reacts with oxygen, but the smell disappears on Earth
OokV4 TIL of Hans Oster, a Nazi general and one of the highest ranking officers who despised Hitler and help save Jews from getting arrested. He was part of the plot to assassinate Hitler and was executed in April 1945, one month before the war was over