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TIL A modern folk etymology holds that the phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from the maximum width of a stick allowed for wife-beating under English common law, but no such law has ever existed.

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169rV TIL Mexican general Manuel Mier y Terán warned that Texas was slipping from Mexico’s control, and after watching his country descend into chaos and ignore his warnings, he fell on his sword in 1832
a5G0 TIL that a sparrow was shot because it knocked over 23000 domino bricks, just 4 days prior to the Domino Day Event. The shooter was later fined for shooting an endangered species.
GxE5 TIL Roman Emperor Commodus was known to fight exotic animals in the arena, often to the horror of the Roman people. He once killed 100 lions in a single day. For each appearance in the arena, he charged a million sesterces, straining the Roman economy.
6m9w TIL that the Russian fighter jet, Su-34, comes equipped with a toilet and a kitchen.
R7EP8 TIL the suicide rate of retail workers is higher than the average, with one worker saying: “People getting angry at me telling them what to do, cussing me out, being rude to me over it. It’s unbearable.”