› added 9 years ago

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TIL the One-child Policy introduced by the Chinese government in the late ‘70s ended on January 1, 2016, when it was changed to a Two-child Policy. Under the new rule, couples still have to ask permission to have a second child.

kBOg TIL The doctor for the Lewis and Clark expedition gave the explorers mercury pills, and since it doesn’t break down this is how scientists trace their steps.
VMwom TIL “&” used to be the 27th character in the alphabet. Originally pronounced ‘and’ the ABC’s ended X,Y,Z and and. To clarify, people would say X,Y,Z, and, by itself, and. Or, incorporating the Latin phrase, X,Y,Z and ‘per se’ and. “And per se and” got contracted to ampersand. *
yQ7Vw TIL that in the Middles Ages, psychiatric disorder existed among the upper class causing people to fear that they were made of glass "and therefore likely to shatter into pieces". One famous sufferer was King Charles VI of France, who wore reinforced clothing to protect himself from "shattering"
rRgLw TIL the USS Wake was the only American ship that surrendered in WWII to the Japanese, who then gave it to their puppet Chinese regime. It was then recaptured by the Americans after WWII, given to the Nationalist Chinese, and then captured by Communist China.
GAlg4 TIL that a fried chicken factory in Hamelt, North Carolina fell victim to a severe grease fire caused by faulty machinery and made worse by locked emergency exits and the fire was the second deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the state