› added 10 years ago

81

TIL Atheists are banned from holding public office by the constitutions of 7 states. Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, & North Carolina: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.” ART IV,Sec 8

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

NX4ZQ TIL Drake's Plate - a brass plaque initially believed to be inscribed & left by Sir Francis Drake at the site of his CA landfall & considered CA's greatest historic treasure at the time of its "discovery" - was a prank on historians by their peers that escalated out of control (despite many clues)
0yGL TIL that in 1964 while federal authorities were searching for 3 civil rights workers presumed murdered by the KKK in Mississippi their search yielded the remains of another 8 blacks that had been murdered by the KKK including a 14 year old boy.
pbKe TIL there was a councilman in Texas who wanted to remove a cat from the local library. Not only he was the only councilman who voted for the motion, he lost in his bid for reelection, and the mayor declared the cat “library cat for life.”
epkeD TIL about Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, an Ugandan religious movement whose leaders claimed the apocalypse would occur on Dec 31, 1999. When that passed without incident, a new date Mar 17 was announced and a gathering held. There was a fire, killing all 530 attendees.
1aoMX TIL the Barenaked Ladies song “One Week” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard charts — where it remained for exactly one week.