› added 12 years ago

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TIL that in 1987, 7 million American children simply vanished. The reason? The IRS started requiring the Social Security Numbers of dependents on tax forms

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b98yN TIL that the word villain came from the ancient term villein, a person of low social status in the feudal system.
wMm8 TIL Chuck Yeager - first pilot to exceed Mach 1 - was shot down over France in WW2, taught bomb-making to Resistance groups who helped him, escaped into Spain, argued the high command into letting him back into combat against regulations, then became an Ace (bringing down 5 enemy aircraft) in 1 day.
BrrQW TIL Toishanese was the dominant language as well as lingua franca in Chinatowns across Canada and the United States. It is commonly mistaken for Cantonese but has little mutual intelligibility with it
a8QZ TIL that the Universe may exist inside a black hole.
aw8QJ TIL that there are scented bowling balls and, contrary to rumor, the creator came up with them because bowling pro shops are stinky places.