› added 12 years ago

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TIL that the term pumpernickel translates into the devil’s fart

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DQYap TIL A slave couple escaped to the North in 1848 by disguising her, a light-skinned black woman, as his owner, and him, darker-skinned, as her valet. She was illiterate at the time, so they put her arm in a sling against signatures and pretended she was sick. An acquaintance nearly recognized them.
GYkRj TIL The bias and slanted media coverage of the 2005 Michael Jackson molestation trial has been referred to as "One of the Most Shameful Episodes In Journalistic History". The media would extensively cover the seedy accusations but completely unreported witnesses crumbling under cross examination.
o4Vr TIL that Vishakanyas or ‘Poison damsels" were girls who were used as assasins.They were made poisonous by exposing them to low-intensity poison from a very young age. Their body fluids would be “poisoned” and sexual contact would thus be lethal to other humans.
gLPX TIL Marvel ended the Fantastic Four comic and plans to replace the X-men with the lesser known Inhumans, all because FOX won’t give them back the movie rights to X-men and Fantastic Four
KYj7G TIL that JRR Tolkien disliked the title of “The Two Towers” and changed his mind several times about which towers the title referred to. There are actually five towers relevant to the story.