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TIL Al Sharpton led the public civil rights involvement of a rape case of Tawana Brawley in which 6 whites (including police officers) were accused of raping the young girl and putting her in a trash bag covered in feces. The jury later found the defendants innocent and the story fabricated.

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j6XAQ TIL Silphium is an unidentified/extinct plant - the exact identity is unclear, highly debated - that was used as a contraceptive and an abortifacient by ancient Greeks and Romans. The plant was also used as seasoning, medicine, perfume, aphrodisiac.
OxPL TIL that PayPerView events can cost bars and restaurants thousands of dollars to show them, and PayPerView sends spies out to make sure non-paying establishments aren’t showing them and sues those that are caught.
GAy01 TIL in that 1999, Mexico began requiring drivers of American registered cars to leave a safety deposit of up to $800 before they could cross the border, as an effort to deter the crime of smuggling stolen American cars. It only lasted two days primarily due to complaints from American tourists.
lopQN TIL that during the time of the 3rd Reich, the Hitler Youth planted larches in a pine forest so that when autumn came it looked like a swastika from the air.
9YjDX TIL about Alexander Cumming, an inventor and the first person to patent a flush toilet in 1775. Cumming included an s-trap in the design to prevent sewer gasses from entering the building through the toilet. Modern toilets still incorporate this design.