› added 4 years ago

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TIL of an organization called the National Lawyers Guild. The NLG can deploy a team of Legal Observers to a protest or demonstration. They act as a source of legal advice for protesters, and “may serve as a deterrent to unconstitutional behavior by law enforcement.” Look for their green hats!

Read more nlg.org

via reddit.com

6E1lm TIL that China's percentage of the world population has actually been decreasing for two centuries now. In 1800 it was almost 40% - about twice as high as it is today.
pZL8 TIL that the bar tab of a 1787 farewell party for George Washington is still intact. “According to the bill… [The Founding Fathers] drank 54 bottles of Madeira, 60 bottles of claret, 8 of whiskey, 22 of porter, 8 of hard cider, 12 of beer, and 7 bowls of alcoholic punch”. The party had 55 attendees.
YXwx TIL That there are spiders who are social and live in colonies. A single nest was reported to be over 25 feet in length, 6-8 feet wide and 4-5 feet high – perhaps the home to 50,000 spiders.
e0Kdb TIL the Cryptex, the cylindrical combination vaults that hold secret messages, made famous in The Da Vinci Code, is a neologism completely invented by Dan Brown and has no historical connection to a real device of the sort.
P1Ogw TIL that before the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, a B29 weather reconnaissance plane called Straight Flush flew over the city to determine if conditions were favourable. Its pilot, Claude Eatherly later expressed remorse, received psychiatric hospitalisation, and engaged in anti-nuclear activism.