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TIL A Princeton study found US to be an oligarchy, not a democracy

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4OyN TIL in one of the earliest instances of investigative journalism (1872), a reporter with the New York Tribune had himself commited/sectioned in order to report on abuse in mental asylums. His work led to the release of twelve incorrectly diagnosed patients and a change in the “lunacy laws.”
J8Dj 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.
LQDBd TIL that King Charles III of the United Kingdom is related to George Washington, the first President of the United States, through his ancestor Henrietta Mildred Hodgson (6 January 1805 – 19 November 1891), an English lady with both British royal and American presidential genealogical connections.
WkOjB TIL that female dragonflies will fake their own death to avoid unwanted advances from male dragonflies
VBBvQ TIL that Red Snapper and other deep sea fish often need to be vented after being caught because they suffer from barotrauma, or inflation of the air bladder, if they are to be released.