› added 5 years ago

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TIL about Quaker and slave trader Zephaniah Kingsley, Jr. who advocated, and practiced, racial mixing as a way toward ending slavery. These views were tolerated in Spanish Florida. After Florida became a U.S. territory in 1821, he moved with his multiple "wives", children, and slaves to Haiti.

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pYO8Z TIL in 1962 Brendon Grimshaw bought Moyenne Island in Seychelles for £8k. He planted 16k trees on the island and bred giant Aldabra tortoises. He was the sole inhabitant of the island until his death in 2012. Instead of selling it for $50m, it was declared a national park is the world's smallest.
wL6Qo TIL Rickets is called "The English Disease" in some languages, after the thick smog during the industrial revolution in England gave up to 80% of children a vitamin-D deficiency
1arPV TIL that sloths take a shit once a week. This is the only reason they will leave their tree, and when they do, it's pretty much a life or death situation for them as predators can easily catch them off guard while they are on the ground.
XEPLQ TIL Michael Moore made a late talk show pilot for Fox in the 90s, which guest Kevin Smith. He also had O.J. Simpson as a guest, his first interview after the trial and the audience booed both Moore and OJ. Fox scrapped the project and never aired the pilot, and the footage was never publicly shown.
lovJN TIL That in 1962, a US spy plane pilot wandered off course and penetrated Soviet airspace, where he avoided intercept by Soviet MiGs, ran out of gas and glided back to Alaska. And oh -- this was right in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis.