› added 6 years ago

149

TIL In 1883, U.S. and Canadian railroads adopted a four-zone system to govern their operations and reduce the confusion resulting from some 100 conflicting locally established “sun times” observed in terminals across the countries.

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5Y8Kk TIL that North Korea is the only country in the world with a Shia Muslim mosque but no Sunni Muslim mosques
oRvA7 TIL peppermint isn't a single species of mint but rather a hybrid of two different species of mint (spearmint and watermint)
Og11 TIL after finding out his wife was having an affair, the future King George I of England beat and choked her, divorced her, and then had her imprisoned for the rest of her life. And had her lover murdered.
v9Ax TIL Pierre Boulle, author of “Planet of the Apes” and “The Bridge over the River Kwai”, won an Oscar for the later movie adaptation. Not speaking English and not having actually written the screenplay, Boulle gave the shortest acceptance speech in Academy Award history, the single word “Merci”.
wLBv7 TIL That smiling in public is frowned upon in Russian culture. Excessive smiling is seen as a sign of dishonesty, insincerity, or even stupidity. Russians also tend to not smile in photographs for this reason.