› added 8 months ago

27

TIL that the American laws against Chinese immigration in the early 20th century had a loophole that allowed Chinese to enter the US if they managed a Chinese restaurant. As a result, the number of Chinese eateries in the US quadrupled between 1910 and 1930.

Read more npr.org

via reddit.com

J1Ddk TIL that the Great Indian Bustard was a prime candidate for the National bird of India, but was sidelined due to fear of misspelling it as the Great Indian Bastard!
9YWnQ TIL That in Mexico, there are 115,000 taco places. Meaning that, in average, every Mexican person has a taco place 400 meter (0.2 miles) away from them.
yQZMl TIL of Japanese anti-hero Yoshie Shiratori, who escaped from prison 4 times and used miso soup to erode steel bars.
oB5QE TIL that J.R.R. Tolkien orginally set out to just create a language. Elfish. He then figured that that language needed a history. That history needed a world etc. Which eventually led to him writing LOTR in said world.
5Yaer TIL of the Targa Florio, an automobile race through small mountain villages in Sicily, where spectators sat, stood right next to, or even on, the road, leading at least one race car driver to call it "totally insane." The race was held annually for around 70 years.