› added 11 years ago

79

TIL Newman’s Day is a holiday celebrated in which one must drink 24 beers in 24 hours without throwing up or falling asleep

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wLvN1 TIL that the phrase "I know it when I see it" was popularized from a SCOTUS Justice to describe the threshold for "hard-core pornography".
kWLe TIL that during the 1904 Olympic Marathon, the winner drank brandy and rat poison, but was refused water. One competitor, wearing trousers and a long sleeve shirt, took a nap during the race, and finished in 4th.
DmAv TIL that from 1936-1966, black Americans going on a road trip often used a “Negro Motorist Green Book” that would list businesses that sold to black people. The book helped travelers avoid one of 10,000 “sundown towns”, places it was the law that all non-whites had to leave the town by sundown.
k70B TIL there is an entire village in India whose main export is muscular men to be bouncers at city nightclubs.
b9gQp TIL In the middle ages some kings had clothes made from "Salamander fur" which were completely fire-proof and bright white. The name likely comes from the common belief that Salamanders were "born from fire". The clothes were actually made out of asbestos.