› added 9 years ago

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TIL president JFK refused to let Sammy Davis Jr perform at the white house because he was black and married a white woman

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78g5b TIL that there’s 1,300 massive toxic waste sites on the EPA’s National Priorities List (NPL) and 42,000 more on the non-NPL list. That’s 2+ toxic waste incidents in all 19,400 cities, towns and villages in the US, on average!!
W7LrN TIL that the geologist Michel Siffre spent 2 months underground without time cues to study how his body clock adapted, repeated the experiment for even longer on himself and more subjects, and discovered that their bodies tended to switch to a 48-hour clock. In one case, one even slept 34 hours.
GYrL1 TIL that the land around General Sherman, the tallest tree on Earth, was briefly taken over by a socialist colony in 1886. Noting Sherman's role in the expulsion of Native Americans, the tree was renamed the Karl Marx Tree. The tree's original name was restored after Sequoia NP was founded.
x6aVB TIL those concrete dividers on highways and streets are called Jersey barriers. Originally invented in the 1950s for use in New Jersey, they were first poured in place but are now pre-made and modular or even plastic. Taller varieties are used as defenses outside US military bases.
KOj64 TIL the origin of someone 'grassing' on someone comes from 'snake in the grass' as snakes are perceived as deceitful.