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TIL that in South Asia widowed women were once routinely burned alive on their husbands’ funeral pyres. A British general outlawed it, saying “This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile… But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them.”

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ADLll TIL that blue pigment does not exist in nature (with the exception of the obrina olivewing butterfly). Everything else, including flowers, is due to some kind of light reflection.
B7br TIL that Glucose (sugar) has an opposite “handed” isomer L-glucose, that tastes identical and isn’t metabolized as sugar, also safe for diabetics. Unfortunately, L-glucose costs 50% more than gold.
j6RPv TIL in 1976, an AP reporter, concerned about violent content in the arcade game Death Race and the effect it might have on players, wrote a widely disseminated article about it. Many at the game's manufacturer Exidy credited this and the negative coverage that began afterwards for increased sales.
rNRv0 TIL that the states of Mississippi and Alabama were originally part of the state of Georgia until officially recognized in 1802 when the state of Georgia accepted their borders and the territory of Mississippi which would later become the states of Mississippi and Alabama was formed.
GAMoJ TIL about fumi-e (meaning "stepping on a picture"), a representation of Jesus used by the Tokugawa shogunate in 17th century Japan to weed out suspected Christians. Those who hesitated or refused to step on fumi-e were tortured or killed.