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TIL that slaveholders in the US knew that enslaved people were escaping to Mexico, the U.S. tried to get Mexico to sign a fugitive slave treaty, but Mexico refused to sign such a treaty, insisting that all enslaved people were free once they set foot on Mexican soil.

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Wk0l9 TIL that in 2004 a tour bus carrying the Dave Matthews Band through Chicago drove over a bridge and dumped 800 lbs of human waste into the river below, splashing feces and urine onto tourists who were on a sightseeing cruise underneath the bridge.
Br8ne TIL that, in 1954, Betty White was criticized for having Arthur Duncan, a black performer, on her show. When the show went national, affiliates from southern states complained and Betty said "I'm sorry. Live with it" and gave Duncan more airtime. The show was soon cancelled.
16pwr TIL about Adelir Antônio de Carli, a Brazilian priest and skydiver who strapped himself to a chair with 1000 balloons to break a cluster-ballooning world record. Only the lower half of his body was ever recovered.
x69R1 TIL BBC developed a written form for West African Pidgin. Pidgin has 75 million speakers in West Africa but did not have a standard written form prior to this. E.g. ,"Wen be Eid al-Fitr and how dem dey decide di date?"
rGeo TIL The Sustainable Dance Floor uses the kinetic energy produced when people move as a source of energy that is then converted into electricity. People will be able to generate their own energy to illuminate the space around them, just by walking over SEF modules.