› added 6 months ago

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TIL that when singer Janis Ian's non-sexual relationship with her female chaperone was misconstrued as sexual, a comedian made it his business to try to blacklist her from television due to her supposed sexuality. At the time she had only been kissed once, by a boy. That comedian? Bill Cosby.

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Wk00o TIL The ancient Celts tried to appease wicked spirits with sweets. The church later encouraged celebrants to go from house to house on All Hallows’ Eve, asking for food in return for a prayer for the dead. This custom eventually became Halloween’s trick or treat.
awajN TIL a man went to prison for killing hundreds of thousands of fish, blaming them for the death of his father. First I started picking them off with my 30.06, when I ran out of shells I went after ‘em with my knife. when I dropped it into the river, I went to work with my bare hands.”
w91o TIL that up until the early 1900’s, it was completely normal for children of both sexes in America to wear dresses until the age of 6 or 7. Gendered clothing didn’t arrive until just before WWI, when pink was recommended for boys and the more ‘delicate and dainty blue’ was recommended for girls.
GAK9j TIL the dog from The Thing (1982) also played the wolf in Journey of Natty Gann (1985) and White Fang (1991).
D1NQp TIL Concorde flew so high passengers received twice the dose of radiation from flying in a conventional aircraft, which was believed to increase cancer risk. The flight deck contained a radiometer so they could descend in case of a solar storm.