› added 6 years ago

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TIL about the Tucker State Prison Farm scandal, in which inmates were routinely beaten, tortured with needles under their fingernails, and had their genitals crushed with pliers and electrocuted. Up to 200 inmates may have been murdered and buried around the prison.

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4X7X6 TIL For centuries, Kurdish villagers knew an ancient rock relief simply as "Naram-Sin", but didn't know who or what it represented. Later, archaeologists discovered it to be a depiction of Naram-Sin of Akkad, King of the Akkadian Empire (the world's first empire) who ruled over 4200 years ago!
ae59 TIL that to show how Classical Chinese had become an impractical language, linguist Chao Yuen Ren wrote a 92-character poem in which every syllable has the sound “shi”. The poem “Shī Shì shí shī shǐ” translates to “Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den”.
eaAg TIL Really nasty tactics against history’s best cricket player had diplomatic consequences for England and Australia
vZO7 TIL that in 1976 as a show of force after 2 marines were killed by North Korean guards wielding axes who crossed the DMZ, a joint US-South Korean army brigade invaded North Korea in overwhelming force, only to cut down a tree and leave.
KOpBG TIL that 18th century France developed a visual telegraph system. Using a series of towers topped with adjustable beams that would display a message and instructions on the next tower to relay it to, messages could be sent across the country in a mere matter of hours, long before electricity.