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TIL there was an epidemic of bubonic plague in San Francisco in the early 20th century, but denial by city and state government, and racism, caused people to focus on Chinatown residents

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vPdBL TIL an orangutan named Fu Manchu figured out how to escape his enclosure at a zoo by picking the lock on a door. He did it repeatedly for weeks as zoo staff was stumped about how and tried every measure to prevent it only to finally catch Fu Manchu in the act using a piece of wire he kept hidden.
d876E TIL about the 'Watras incident' where a worker at a nuclear powerplant triggered contamination alert after returning from the weekend. They found the source of this being his home, flooded with radon gas. He was told that each day of living there was the equivalent of smoking 135 packs of cigarettes
kkZd TIL W.T. Stead, a Victorian investigative journalist writing about child prostitution, bought an underage sex slave to prove how easily it could be done. He was sent to prison.
rE8w TIL the sunset on Mars is blue.
LdJV TIL that in Singapore, caning is a commonly used form of punishment for male criminals under the age of 50