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TIL: Hucksters and flim flam men plagued Iowa in the pre-WW1 years selling "patented" bridges that fell apart or washed away to naive county commissioners.

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b9Gn0 TIL that on April 1st, 1991, a thief stole a box from the trunk of a car in New York City and discovered six partial human heads with the backs of the skulls cut away. They turned out to be specimens for study at an infirmary and not a strange April Fools' prank.
4Z6 TIL that the moon is actually exceptionally dark, and has a similar reflectivity to coal. It appears white in comparison to the darker sky around it.
eom5 TIL In Japan, young kids play a game called, “Kancho” in which they stick their fingers in the unsuspecting victim’s anus for fun.
4Ll5 TIL Sam Houston was left for dead by army surgeons during battle led by Andrew Jackson against Creek Indians. Not only did Houston survive, but years later he got into a fistfight with a Congressman who held a gun to Houston’s chest, pulled the trigger and misfired. Houston was left unharmed.
j6Bea TIL where the phrase "Tail-end Charlie" comes from. During WW2, US bombers flew in tight formation to guard against German fighters. Rookies flew in the "Tail-end Charlie" position in the back of the formation, so dangerous that crews called it the "coffin corner" or "Purple Heart corner".