› added 12 years ago

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TIL that 14yo Davontae Sanford was coerced into confessing to a quadruple homicide by police in Detroit in 2007. The actual killer later confessed, but Davontae remains in prison serving a 37 to 90 year sentence.

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KOPJJ TIL French astronomer and mathematician Urbain le Verrier used observational data from Uranus to deduce the position of an unknown planet, which German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle used to find Neptune, within one hour of searching and within one degree of Verrier's prediction (1846).
9Yxv7 TIL In 2012 a scientific study predicted a 39 inch rise in sea level along the North Carolina coast over the next century. In response, North Carolina lawmakers passed a law banning the use of scientific predictions of sea level rise when considering new developments along the coast.
oBxQK TIL in the 1956 Melbourne olympics, veterinary student Barry Larkin protested against the relay, carrying a fake flame, consisting of a pair of underpants set on fire in a plum pudding can, attached to a chair leg. Successfully handing it to the Mayor of Sydney and escaping unnoticed.
R71L6 TIL There was an actual US district court case called "United States v. 11 1/4 Dozen Packages of Articles Labeled in Part Mrs. Moffat's Shoo-Fly Powders for Drunkenness."
5YbbP TIL In 2016, a study that examined over 464,000 recordings of pop music recorded between 1955-2010 found that since the 1960s, pop music had less variety in pitch progressions, grown average loudness levels, less diverse instrumentation and recording techniques, and less timbral variety