› added 4 years ago

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TIL that the first free black community in the New World, Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, was created by the Spanish government of St Augustine, Florida, in 1738. They began to offer asylum as early as 1687 to slaves of the British colonies, and often fought the British alongside each other.

OoRRg TIL In the US, if your scheduled arrival time to a destination is delayed by an airline (due to missteps on their part, such as overbooking), for more than 2 hours (domestic) or 4 hours (international), you are entitled to financial compensation of up to 400% of the one-way fare, capped at $1,550.
d8bOZ TIL Friends Thomas Cook and Joseph Feeney shook hands in 1992, swearing if either one won the Powerball jackpot, they would split the winnings. Well the power of friendship and a handshake has paid off: 28 years later Tom won €22 million and split the winnings with his friend.
R79pa TIL The American boardgame "Chutes and Ladders" is a bastardization of an ancient Indian game called Moksha Patam. The game's original theming represented the Hindu soul's arduous path to liberation from the cycle of reincarnation and has been played by the same ruleset for nearly 2,000 years.
9YG8m TIL I learned that catfish can breathe partly through their butts -- and maybe we can too. So can loaches (a type of freshwater fish) and orb-weaving spiders, and apparently also mice, rats, and pigs. (Bonus: So can some turtles.)
epZAg TIL There was a minor league baseball player named “Wonderful Terrific Monds III”