› added 12 years ago

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TIL a city in Florida gave James Earl Jones an award for MLK Jr Day, but on the plaque, accidentally listed him as “James Earl Ray,” King’s assassin.

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jGeE TIL In London from 1682 one could buy fire insurance: you attached a metal plate to their building ensuring that if there were a fire their insurance company would fight to extinguish it. If the building wasn’t insured the fire wasn’t put out unless it threatened to spread to an insured building.
epNYD TIL all of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world run on Linux
5YjMQ TIL when Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs first opened in 1916, the owner hired people to dress as doctors and eat hot dogs outside his shop, to convince people his hot dogs were healthy.
4w0a TIL: Some tarantulas will keep frogs as “pets” to protect their eggs from insects.
0BmN TIL that in pre Civil War South Carolina, U.S. congressmen were required to own at least 10 slaves to run for office.