› added 10 years ago

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TIL that in the 1960s, Nichelle Nichols, the black actress that played Uhura in Star Trek, wanted to quit the show. MLK himself talked her out of quitting the role because he believed presenting a black woman working alongside white men would help further the goal of racial equality.

pYore TIL in 1897 when British railway pioneer Magnus Volk wanted to extend his railway line to Rottingdean, he created the "Daddy Long Legs", a unique electric tram atop four 23' tall legs that ran on tracks submerged in the ocean. At high tide it moved at "a very slow walking pace."
4m4w TIL this upcoming weekend two major holidays from Islam and Judaism (Yom Kippur & Eid al-Adha) will coincide in a rare synchrony of the calendars — one is about fasting and the other is about feasting
xVxbB TIL “Black Forest Ham” comes from the Black Forest region of Germany, where it was originally coated with beef blood to give it its dark color.
KOnkG TIL on 1989, in California, Wilbur and Mary Ellen Tracy opened the Neo-Pagan "Church Of The Most High Goddess", where Mrs. Tracy practised sacred prostitution with her congregants. Both were convicted for pimping and prostitution
D10PJ TIL that Robert Liston amputated a patient's leg so fast that he cut off his assistant's fingers and slashed through a spectator's coat. His patient and assistant died due to infection, and the spectator died due to shock, making this medical operation the only known one with a 300% mortality rate.