› added 4 years ago

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TIL about the Aroostook War, a diplomatic spat between British Canada and the US over the official border between New Brunswick and Maine in 1838-39. While no shots were fired, police, militia and lumberjacks were mobilized. The only reported casualties were two Canadians mauled by a bear.

JYrrB TIL about Raven Wilkinson, the first African-American ballet dancer of a major ballet company. In 1957, Raven was once barred from staying with her troupe when an Atlanta hotel owner asked her outright if she was black. Raven quit dancing for a time, only to return to a 27 year career at NYC Opera.
wLJY8 TIL that the reason there are tags on mattresses that say "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law" is the result of laws that require that the contents of the mattress be listed on the label. These laws were passed in a time when many mattresses were filled with a variety of undesirable contents.
m1aZE TIL that in 1993, a man named James Scott intentionally caused a levee to fail along the Mississippi River, flooding 14,000 acres, just so his wife couldn’t return home and interrupt his partying.
8aXDa TIL of Louis de Bourbon, Count of Soissons who after betraying Louis XIII and succesfully beat his army at the Battle of La Marfée, accidentally killed himself when lifting the visor of his helmet with his pistol after the battle was over
gMRLy TIL About how the only surviving China from the Windows on the World restaurant, that was located inside of the World Trade Center, was recovered post 9/11