› added 12 years ago

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TIL that the official name for ‘Mexico’ is the “United Mexican States.”

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v15Z8 TIL of Godiva, who wanted lower taxes. To convince her husband the Earl, she rode her horse naked through the streets. The public was ordered to close their shutters. Tom decided to look and was struck blind. This produced the term "Peeping Tom" as well as the name of the chocolate company Godiva.
X0kAQ TIL the town of Center in North Dakota was named in 1902 because of its proximity to the center of Oliver County. In 2017 geography proffessor Peter Rogerson used azimuthal equidistant projection to calculate the geographical center of North America only to discover it was Center, North Dakota.
B5lb TIL A map making company in the 1930s placed a made up an hamlet (village) in their maps as a copyright trap. Years later the village started showing up on Rand McNally maps. The originator of the map sued for copyright infringement, but in fact locals and government had adopted and used the name.
nWNpP TIL: Of the hundreds of thousands of Infantrymen who have fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, only 325 have been awarded the third award of the Combat Infantryman's Badge, known as the Triple CIB
MeV07 TIL in 2015 a father saved his son's life when doctors wrongly declared him braindead and were taking him off life support. He barricaded himself with a gun in the hospital and had a stand-off with SWAT until his son squeezed his hand. The son made a full recovery