› added 11 years ago

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TIL: Certain ticks can transmit a meat allergy to humans which causes the person to develop hives whenever they eat meat

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BjpW TIL hog-morse happened when rookie telegraph users made timing errors. One alleged case concerns the similarity of “L” and “T”. A customer sent a request for “undressed staves (wood)” to a Virginia firm. Due to hog-morse, “slaves” was sent instead. The firm reminded the sender that slavery was over.
p8g5N TIL the Gendarmerie of Haiti, the collaborationist police-force raised by the USA during its occupation of Haiti in the early 1900s, sent a rifle team of indigenous gendarmes to the 1924 Olympics. The team won the nation's first-ever Olympic medal, a bronze, in the team free rifle event.
6J0X TIL It was legal to perform Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the United States up until 1997.
bpVj TIL that Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime.
0pmy TIL Yale has a rare book and manuscript library with “windows” of translucent marble to prevent the books from being exposed to direct sunlight