› added 6 years ago

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TIL that on the Mississippi River in the 1850s, the word "two" was often pronounced "twain." When leadsmen measured a depth of two fathoms, they shouted "mark twain!" The American writer Mark Twain, a former river pilot from Missouri, got his pen name from this phrase.

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J1DVl TIL that in the state of Alabama, every biology textbook must contain an insert stating that the evolution is a “controversial theory”.
yMV8 TIL In 1994 there was a rash of UFO sightings and confirmation of abnormal activity by National Weather Service Radar in West Michigan.
78LPr Today I learned that, 29 years after the end of World War 2, a Japanese man named Teruo Nakamura continued to secretly fight on for Japan on an Indonesian Island
P1A4e TIL Many Vikings were fearsome warriors, but most were farmers, fishermen, craftsmen and traders. Viking trading centers and trade routes would bring tremendous wealth. The Viking economy and trade network also effectively helped rebuild the European economy after the fall of the Roman Empire.
Eybp TIL the highest paid CEO in the US made $141,949,280 in 2013. Put another way, he made approximately the average yearly household income in the US…every 3 hours.