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TIL There was an Attorney General that was a sole hold-out that refused to go along with a settlement that would shield the banks from the mortgage fiasco lawsuits. NY States Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman.

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kJ94g TIL heroin got its name by being "the hero's drug". It was used in the US Civil War as a painkiller for soldiers needing amputation by hacksaw.
P18pe TIL that reinforced concrete became popular after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The subsequent fire destroyed much of the city, but those built with reinforced concrete made it "through the ordeal unscathed, where buildings of brick and stone in their immediate vicinity were entirely wrecked."
GrOJ TIL the irish Peter O'Connor at the flag-raising ceremony in the 1906 olympics, in protest at the flying of the Union Flag for his second place, scaled a flagpole in the middle of the field and waved the Irish flag, while the pole was guarded by Irish and American athletes and supporters.
16yA8 TIL that the first laws outlawing food coloring were in regards to bread. White bread was expensive and some bakers added chalk to lighten dark bread. King Edward I (1272-1307) created a law saying anyone caught using whiteners in bread would be put in the public pillory for one hour.
VBoV4 TIL Lincoln Logs were not designed to look like Abraham Lincoln's mythical cabin, but an earthquake-proof building in Japan. Also that they were created by John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright