› added 11 years ago

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TIL that North Korea formally adopted EMV (chip) debit and credit cards in late 2012, leaving the US the sole remaining holdout country that still hasn’t officially adopted a transition timeline for it.

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E1X8W Today I learned that Scots and Inuit made contact
yVjal TIL The United States is the only country to have hosted consecutive FIFA World Cups in either the men's or women's formats. The US hosted the women's tournament in 1999 and served as emergency hosts in 2003 due to a SARS outbreak in China.
R7bAw TIL that filmmaker James Cameron reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean, in the Deepsea Challenger submersible on March 26, 2012. He is the first person to do this in a solo descent, and is only the third person to do so ever.
BrBMe TIL hippos will spray their poop using their tails in order to mark their territory. Since baby hippos' intestines are sterile, they eat their mother's feces in order to mark their territory as well.
GAnGN TIL Gandalfs stand at Minas Tirith in The Lord of The Rings books was based on a real bishop who mounted a hopeless defense against the Magyars until the emperor came to relieve him with an army of heavy knights.