› added 6 months ago

25

TIL that Randy Weaver was awarded $3.1 million over the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff.

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mp9y TIL that AOL had volunteer mods that filed a class action lawsuit against AOL, claiming that AOL volunteers performed work equivalent to employees and thus should be compensated according to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
gMaab TIL the electric chair was intended to be more humane than hanging. But the first in NY in 1890 took 8 minutes and two attempts. Comments included "they would have done better using an axe", and "an awful spectacle, far worse than hanging".
e0XeD TIL about the 1969 book "Naked Came the Stranger", a literary hoax - the book was written to be disjointed and terrible, but full of sex scenes, to prove that any book could succeed if enough sex was thrown in. The novel spent 13 weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller List.
GYpbJ TIL that during WWII 15% of the steel production in the US--180 tons an hour--went across the Hot Metal Bridge in Pittsburgh--as molten steel in huge crucibles built into special rail cars.
NDNP TIL: Sioux Indians peacefully surrendered as their land was being stolen, then still were attacked by US forces in the Wounded Knee Massacre