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TIL that the term cakewalk comes from a 19th century dance, invented by slaves in the antebellum South. It was intended to satirize the ballroom promenades of white plantation owners. Couples promenaded through the ballroom, bowing deeply and frequently. The couple who performed the best won a cake

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R0pj TIL Velcro was named for the words “velvet” & “crochet” and was invented by a Swiss engineer
WZNN TIL: Three soviet engineers volunteered their lives at Chernobyl to release water from the broken reactor. Had they not done this, the resulting fallout would have covered most of Europe. All three men died within two weeks.
Z84VQ TIL of an early-twentieth-century novelist named Robert Walser who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, committed to a sanatorium and largely forgotten until it was discovered that the tiny, supposedly schizophrenia-induced markings on scraps of paper were actually a novel deciphered in the 1970's
low8r TIL that the magyars that raided the european continent were the Dark Age's version of the Zodiac Killer. They believed that whoever they killed in battle, he would serve them in the afterlife. An example is related to the legend of the Horn of Lehel.
ADjRl TIL that it is a common misconception that graves must be dug to a depth of six feet; often, graves are 30-36 inches deep. The six foot rule was implemented in 1665 during the Great Plague of London, when city officials apparently believed this would inhibit the spread of disease.