› added 13 years ago

469

TIL Alan Rickman failed his California driving test at one point for “driving too cautiously through a green light”

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via reddit.com

5VBRQ TIL that the superstition of "knocking on wood" to avoid bad luck dates back to ancient Celtic tribes. They believed that spirits or gods lived in trees, and knocking on the tree would call on these spirits for protection.
QJrrp TIL high school sports is something that is unique in the US. In most countries in the world, schools don't have sports teams.
RkO7 TIL that there is a hidden spy room at an AT&T building in downtown San Francisco that splits all incoming communications traffic, copying this information to the NSA. This room has been operational since at least 2003 and has been publicly known to exist since 2006.
kKL1 TIL Because the number 8 is considered very lucky in Chinese culture, a Chinese man spent the equivalent of $145,000 to secure a license plate reading ‘88888’ in the hope of increasing his luck. On his first day with the plate, he was pulled over 8 times by cops who thought the plate was a fake.
7rayp TIL an 11 year old girl survived four days on a 2ft by 5ft raft after her family was murdered and the boat she was on sank. She went years without knowing for sure who killed them. [fixed]