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TIL "red telephone", a direct line between DC and Moscow, isn't really a phone line and no phones were ever used. It went from teletype to fax machines. Since 2008, it's a secure form of email.

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VMlKB TIL that after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Congress voted 388-1 to declare war on Japan. The sole dissenter was Jeannette Rankin, a pacifist and the first woman elected to congress. She said of her decision ""I voted as the mothers would have had me vote."
W9MY TIL that cretin, the first word used to describe a mental handicap, comes from the French word for Christian
MPVV TIL masturbation can help with menstrual cramps.
W7xaB TIL a panel of scientists developed a plan to use cats that glow when exposed to radiation as a way to warn future civilizations about radioactive sites. The "Rad Cats" purpose would be explained in a nursery rhyme designed to be passed along, generation to generation.
v1GOR TIL - In 1836, a sewer worker accidentally discovered an old drain which ran directly into the Bank of England's gold vault. He wrote letters to the directors of the bank and requested a meeting inside the vault at an hour of their choosing - and popped out of the floor to greet them