› added 8 years ago

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TIL that in 1780, a slave named Elizabeth Freeman essentially ended slavery in Massachusetts by suing for her freedom on the basis that the new state constitution declared that all men are born free and equal.

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N7Lre TIL that Peter Glasser was granted a patent in 1973 for converting solar energy to electricity in outer space and beaming them back to earth as microwave energy using a large antenna (up to one square km).
wLgKY TIL that the Free French forces that liberated Paris in WW2 were pre-selected to be completely white, despite colored soldiers making up a majority of the Free French forces. Both the US and UK demanded their exclusion from the liberation.
ADEVl TIL: Tibetan Monks spend weeks/months carefully "pouring" colored sand to make a very detailed and complex museum-worthy artwork that is known as the "Sand Mandala". Once complete, these intricate paintings are then ritualistically destroyed and that symbolizes the Buddhist belief of impermanence.
DLoj TIL of “a 27-year-old lady who had persistent cough, sputum and fever for six months. Despite trials with antibiotics and anti-tuberculosis treatment for four months, her symptoms did not improve. Detailed retrospective history confirmed accidental inhalation of a condom during fellatio.”
Eg1Jx TIL that in France, Art Nouveau style was also called Style Jules Verne and Le Style Métro after Hector Guimard’s iron and glass subway entrances.