› added 11 years ago

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TIL the term the “grandfather clause” comes from US segregation laws, wherein tests designed to disenfranchise African-Americans would also disenfranchise poor Southern whites as well. The workaround was that people were allowed to vote if their grandfathers had been allowed to as well.

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E1ZYw TIL that 6 people who lived in an apartment over a period of 9 years died from leukemia. An investigation revealed a capsule containing caesium-137 embedded in the wall, believed to have gotten mixed up with construction supplies
ep8J TIL - There was an NFL playoff game where the fog was so thick that the players couldn’t even see the sidelines, and the fans couldn’t see the field. The refs had to announce what happened after every play.
NX4wM TIL about the TwitterPeek, a Twitter-only mobile device introduced in 2009 that allowed users to send and receive tweets...and nothing else
vPGeR TIL we used Malaria to treat Syphilis
Enlp TIL a man with a fake eye was convicted and executed by the Puritans for the crime of bestiality after spotting a piglet that looked a bit like him.