› added 1 year ago

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TIL that Margaret Dickson was hanged in 1724, but was later found to be still alive. She was then released because, under Scots Law, her punishment had been carried out. The words 'until dead' were only added to the sentence of hanging later.

l6d5 TIL “"No president has ever used the [Emergency Alert System] system or its technical predecessors in the last 50 years, despite the Soviet missile crisis, a presidential assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, major earthquakes and three recent high-alert terrorist warnings…”
PZgn TIL Kirk Douglas is alive and well and will be 100 years old in December next year
QJD5X TIL that the US has refused to continue funding the nuclear claims tribunal set up to compensate islanders that suffered radiation-related diseases from testing. So far it's paid less than $4 million of a $2.2 billion damage judgement. More than half of the affected islanders have died since.
aepM TIL: In a report from 2013, most of the funds raised by the NFL don’t fund cancer research. In the end, after everybody has taken their cut, only 8.01% of money spent on pink NFL merchandise is actually going towards cancer research.
mB7p TIL in order to convince CBS to allow Lucille Ball to be shown pregnant on “I Love Lucy,” Desi Arnaz consulted a priest, a rabbi and a minister, all of whom said it was fine. CBS relented, but still prohibited “pregnant” words, so Arnaz pronounced “expecting” as “spectin” in his Cuban accent.