› added 10 years ago

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TIL that over 300,000 people in South Africa got needlessly infected with HIV after state officials supported charlatan vitamin treatment instead of “western medical conspiracy”.

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1ao14 TIL Stephen Colbert was invited to be the featured entertainer at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner. Apparently Republicans didn't realize the character from his show was satire. Featuring some nervous laughs from George W.
argA TIL in the Great Plague in England, sufferers in Eyam were persuaded by their church leader to quarantine themselves instead of running and spreading the disease. 260 out of 350 villagers died but are credited with saving 1000s of others through their actions.
LQoAV TIL Kim Jong-il's famous five hole-in-one golf record turns out to be a simple journalistic mistake—reporters incorrectly interpreted his scorecard which had been filled out in shorthand by the scorekeeper, and ended up reporting his score wrong.
b6g10 TIL that Sigmund Freud in 1935, the founder of psychoanalysis, refused to "treat" homosexuality, stating that it could not be classified as an illness
Lkby9 TIL After president Harding died of a heart attack, VP Calvin Coolidge was visiting family with no electricity or telephone. He heard of Harding's death by messenger at 2:45 AM. He got dressed, prayed, and met with reporters downstairs and took oath next to a kerosene lamp. He then went back to bed.