› added 10 years ago

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TIL Leo Fender, the inventor of Fender Guitars never knew how to play the guitar

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via reddit.com

Orva TIL that Claudette Colvin, a 15 year old African American girl, was the unsung hero of the Alabama Bus Boycott and desegregation of public transportation. Before Rosa Parks, Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman, citing that it was her constitutional right.
BrdZW TIL that the US has technically been a metric nation since 1975 but just hasn't enforced the system onto private companies and people.
awlg0 TIL of the Catherine Wheel- A torture device used widely from the Middle Ages until 1841. A victim was tied down and had each limb broken by a cart wheel, and then the limbs were braided between the spokes and the person left to die. One man lasted 9 days before passing.
Z8ge4 TIL that in 1968, the US army accidentally killed 6,000 sheep on ranch land north of its biological and chemical weapons testing facility known as the Dugway Proving Ground. The Skull Valley Sheep Kill - as it came to be known, was caused by the open air testing of a highly toxic nerve agent "VX".
R7Bv9 TIL the disposable surgical masks are designed to prevent infections to others by the wearer rather than protect the wearers themselves. Wearing one is actually a public service.