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TIL The black death caused an inflation of dowries in medieval Florence which the government solved by establishing a public dowry fund: when a girl turned 5, families would deposit on the dowry bank on her behalf, which would accrue about 10% a year and would be withdrawn when she got married

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wVb7 TIL there is a city in New Mexico named Truth or Consequences. The city changed its name from Hot Springs in 1950 in order to become the airing location for a radio broadcast of the same name.
Z8gWB TIL that, in 1973, America’s Army Material Command (AMC) ran a competition to name it’s new building. After receiving over 500 entries, a jury selected the winner: “AMC Building”
xww1 TIL in 1997 Pepsi held a contest to win a life-size replica of the Simpsons house or $75,000. The contest winner chose the cash. The house, which cost $120,000 to build, was renovated to look like a normal home and re-sold
M7kgb TIL the test pilot for the first fighter jet would fly dressed as a gorilla in a hat to allow US Air Force psychologists to gaslight other pilots into believing they hadn't witnessed a “gorilla, wearing a derby hat, waving a stogie at them” flying a fast-moving plane without a propeller
78DJL TIL Home Alone was responsible for making Kevin the number one name in Germany in 1991. Later, the name became associated with low social status in the country, which led to the coining of the German word, Kevinismus, meaning the negative preconception German people give to trendy exotic names