› added 6 years ago

188

TIL chief justice John Marshall and his fellow justices enjoyed Madeira wine, but set a rule that they would only drink on rainy days. When Marshall was told it was a sunny day, he said, 'this is a large area we have jurisdiction over, I'm sure it's raining somewhere.'

Read more heinonline.org

via reddit.com

p8nWO TIL armadillos carry leprosy and caused a spike of leprosy cases in Florida in 2015
p8OWZ TIL that Olivia de Havilland, the actress who played one of the main parts in 1939's Gone With the Wind, is still alive at 103 years old.
W7wm8 TIL that in 2004 the owner of the Marineland amusement park in Canada purchased a nearby trailer park for an expansion and evicted all 47 families living there, leading to the suicide of 63 year old Paula Millard. The expansion never happened and the lot is still abandoned.
dDVD7 TIL Males of some species deposit a "mating plug" to seal the vagina, ensuring their sperm's survival over those from other males. However, L. mariana spiders require secretions from both sexes to form the functional plug, allowing female spiders to choose the father of their offspring.
Ooekg TIL that a man raised $275,000 for disabled veterans in 1864 by repeatedly auctioning the same sack of flour over and over again