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TIL: Large numbers of free Blacks owned black slaves in numbers disproportionate to their representation in society. According to the federal census of 1830, free blacks owned more than 10,000 slaves in Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia.

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R6Vl TIL in the 1970s, over 700,000 tires, held together by steel, were dumped off the coast of Florida to create an artificial reef. The steel later rusted apart, detaching the tires and causing an environmental disaster.
R5NE9 TIL The eerie "Number Stations" are shortwave radio stations that broadcast cryptic messages, often consisting of strings of numbers or coded words. These stations have been transmitting since the Cold War era and continue to baffle listeners as their purpose and intended audience remain unknown.
bYQE TIL the first human cardiac catheterization was done by Werner Forssmann who, after failing to get permission from his department chief, anesthetized his arm, inserted a catheter into his vein and threaded it into his heart. He then walked down to the X-ray department and took a picture to prove it
J01j TIL that in 1981, a landlord was sued for evicting a tenant who had spilled a tin of the noxious-smelling fish surstromming in the property. Upon being told he didn’t have a case to do so, the landlord simply opened a tin of surstromming in the courtroom. The judge quickly changed his mind.
P1JoL TIL about Subutai also known as 'The Demon Dog of war' A Monggol general and the primary military strategist of Genghis Khan, regarded by many as the single greatest military commander in history, instrumental in the conquests of Genghis and Ögedei Khan.