› added 10 years ago

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TIL Supreme Court found random drug checkpoints unconstitutional in 2000. Since then, police have gotten into the habit of putting signs up warning drivers of upcoming drug checkpoints, and then detaining and searching drivers who make illegal u-turns.

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5JpB TIL that a third string catcher, Moe Berg, toured Japan with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in 1934 while working as a US spy. Berg spoke 12 languages and eventually spied on the Nazis during WWII. When presented the report to the president, Roosevelt responded “Give my regards to the catcher.”
6ELQ7 TIL Orson Welles, out of work and in need of money in the late 70's resorted to appearing in and even directing tv ads for various products. In recent years a backstage video has resurfaced of a drunk Welles filming an ad for Paul Masson wines
E1w8W TIL that in 1712 a swiss doctor found a skeleton that he thought was a human who died in the flood of Noah. In 1826, George's Cuvier, one of the founders of paleontology, reexamined it. It turned out to be a giant salamander.
4XK9J TIL in 2008 the council of the British city of Birmingham printed 360,000 leaflets that featured an image of the skyline of Birmingham, Alabama. The council then said that it was meant to be a "generic skyline picture".
v5AL TIL that the day after Thanksgiving isn’t referred to as “Black Friday” because of the profits seen by retailers, but was originally coined by traffic cops in Philadelphia to describe the disastrous traffic conditions