› added 4 years ago

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TIL that the English Crown, fearing the potential devaluation of gold, should the philosopher's stone actually be discovered, made penalties for alchemy very severe. In some cases the punishment for unsanctioned alchemy would include the public hanging of an offender on a gilded scaffold.

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4XXRJ TIL during the Apollo program, Cape Canaveral was renamed Cape Kennedy
9wLEM TIL that the last U.S. Army cavalry charge in combat occurred in 1942. American soldiers would not enter combat on horseback again until Army Green Berets used them in October 2001.
KpaE TIL that in the 1930s New York city planner Robert Moses deliberately built a number of bridges really low so that only cars could go under it - so as to prevent blacks (who mostly used public transport) from visiting New York’s ‘pristine’ beaches
5YKQ TIL a sow was dressed as a human and hanged for the death of an infant in 1386.
QpQd TIL that the American flag planted on the moon by the crew of Apollo 11 was blown over by the exhaust of the Lunar Module when taking off