› added 11 years ago

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TIL that in some parts of Poland, it’s uncommon to casually celebrate birthdays, and instead, “name days”, the day a patron saint a person has been named after is dedicated, is celebrated by coworkers, etc.

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XER16 TIL that Mozart was among the top income earners of society back in his day and lived lavishly, earning about 10,000 florins/yr vs 25 fl/yr for laborers and ~500 for some in the upper class. He was also not buried in a pauper’s grave, just that only Aristocrats were allowed to have private burials.
YeVr TIL if a member of the US military or a US official is detained by the International Court in the Hague, the US has a law allowing it to invade the Netherlands to release them.
yQ17J TIL Actor John Wayne attended USC in the 1920s, and played on the football team. He got injured surfing and could no longer play football, losing his athletic scholarship. Without funds he had to drop out of school. Wayne went to work at the studios, beginning with a summer gig in a prop department.
a8LXZ TIL that some early botanists thought fern seeds were invisible, and would grant you invisibility too, if you could catch one. Shakespeare even wrote about this belief in his play Henry IV.
gMwl8 TIL The NES game 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' included a real phone number that players could call and hear a recording of Jessica Rabbit offering hints. The phone line was discontinued by 1990 and reassigned to a sex hotline some time before 2010. The original recording has since been lost.