› added 1 year ago

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Today I learned of Seneca Village, a settlement founded by free Black Americans that was seized and razed in 1857 to create New York's Central Park. Wealthy families successfully sued to prevent the seizure of their land that was the original site proposed for a park.

nW4mG TIL that Wayne Gretzky and John Candy bought the Toronto Argonauts in 1991. They paid Raghib Ismail, the presumptive #1 overall NFL drat pick, a record amount to instead play in the CFL.
9wxaQ TIL: You can determine the voltage in power lines overhead by counting the insulator discs below the line. High voltage power lines typically use disc insulators to prevent current entering the metal pylon. Counting the number of discs can give an indication of the line voltage:
oBQ0A TIL That Rod Stewart has a giant model train set, spanning 1,500 square feet and based on postwar Manhattan, that took him two decades to build
XEkVk TIL Robert Frost's "A Road Less Traveled" was intended to be a humorous jab at an indecisive colleague. The poem's intent was to convey how both paths are basically the same with the same outcome, so you should just select one randomly and get the fuck on with it already.
epeBk TIL that in World War 1, the American Expeditionary Forces attempted to enforce Jim Crow laws on the French to regulate the treatment of Black soldiers and officers. This was done because they were worried that these individuals were being treated with excessive familiarity and indulgence.