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TIL one of the most brutal prisons in the US was Angola, Louisiana, which was run like a plantation. In the 1930s, hardened prisoners broke down upon learning of their sentence there. At one point, 10% of Angola prisoners were stabbed.

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B7nL TIL the Wright Brothers hated the first director of the Smithsonian Institution, who claimed that he flew before them. If the Smithsonian ever gives credit to earlier claims of controlled and powered manned flight, the Wright Brothers’ plane must be returned to Orville’s estate.
aZ0Z TIL Super Bowl performers have a strict 12 minute time limit so most performers try and squeeze as much as they can in that given time frame. Not Michael Jackson. After exploding onto stage, he stood still, staring at the world for 90 seconds.
awx9Z TIL about 'Dead cat bounce', a Wall Street saying that "even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height", referring to a small rebound during or after a stock market crash
7raKr TIL that Fred Rogers is credited with the continued funding of PBS after he presented a passionate argument in front of the US Senate in May, 1969. This allowed healthy child development shows like 'Mr. Rogers Neighborhood' to be fully funded, along with the rest of PBS programming.
Lkkm9 TIL in January 2011, a homemade catapult was discovered that was used to smuggle marijuana into the United States from Mexico. The machine was found 20 feet from the border fence with 4.4 pounds (2.0 kg) bales of cannabis ready to launch.