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TIL that several counties in Michigan have nonsense names. 19th century geographer Henry Schoolcraft invented meaningless "Indian-sounding" place names by combining Latin, Arabic, and Ojibwe sounds.

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5MXp TIL after the Great Seattle Fire, the city decided to raise street levels downtown by 8 to 32 feet. During the transition, people had to climb ladders to cross a street then climb back down to sidewalk level on the other side. 17 drunks died by falling off streets and onto sidewalks below.
XEYWX TIL that John Bonham regularly had a blood-alcohol concentration level of 0.34
Xr7E TIL That at the same time the Rodney King trial was being covered, a trial was taking place for Hulan Mitchell, a black supremacist cult leader who decapitated his members and killed whites as an initiation ritual
YdKB TIL James May, formerly of Top Gear, once beat Gordon Ramsay in a cooking contest, while drunk.
VMWm4 TIL even though smoking has been banned on airplanes, ash trays are mandatory on every plane. This is for safe disposal in case someone breaks the law.