› added 4 years ago

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TIL about Joe Arridy, who had an IQ of 46 and is known as the “happiest prisoner on death row”. He went into the gas chamber with a smile. It turned out he was innocent.

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W7y48 TIL that blackcurrants were once grown in the U.S. until their growth was restricted in 1911. The restriction was to protect pine trees from blister rust fungus, which use the plant as a host.
N7QGN TIL Forty of the world's fifty tallest mountain peaks are in Pakistan.
YnXd TIL That the longest filibuster in U.S. history was made by Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. He filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It was revealed after his death that he had fathered a half-black daughter.
dDDQQ TIL the USA is not a young country anymore. Independence in 1776 makes it older than about two-thirds of the 195 sovereign states recognised by the UN.
rReQd TIL about an Indian art called Shatavadhana, where a person has to remember and answer questions on a stage from 100 people simultaneously while dealing with distractions in a round robin manner. The tasks vary from making up a poem spontaneously to keeping a count of a bell ringing at random.