› added 5 years ago

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TIL of Märket, a tiny island divided by the finnish-swedish border. When the finns inadvertedly built a lighthouse on the wrong side of the border, the swedes agreed to trade it for an equal spot of land on the other side, causing the border to zig-zag.

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e0Al6 TIL that in the UK, you can legally and peacefully avoid paying the TV license provided you fill in a simple form every 2 years and promise not to consume BBC media and broadcasts.
rNNRM TIL of Commander James H. Ward, the first US Naval officer to be killed in the American Civil War. A destroyer named after him fired the first American shots of the Pacific Theater in WW2, sinking a Japanese submarine. Actor Andy Devine is his great-grandson.
kOZ11 TIL standard classroom maps are based on the Mercator projection, a 16th century rendition that shows disproportionate sizes of continents, resulting in widespread misconceptions of geography.
kJka7 TIL that there is a genetic mutation which vastly reduces armpit odor. A mutation disabling the “ABCC11” gene changes the chemical structure of armpit sweat, inhibiting the action of skin bacteria. Notably, this mutation is mostly found in East Asian populations
LQQVP TIL about Mary Bell, A convicted serial killer at 11 years of age. She was sent to prison in her teens and escaped briefly, but was recaptured. She was released from prison at the age of 23, and her current whereabouts are unknown after the high court granted her protection and anonymity.