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TIL: Confederate General Patrick Cleburne proposed recruiting slaves to fight for them and granting their freedom as a reward, arguing this would strengthen the confederacy. The idea was quickly shot down after facing strong opposition from other confederate leaders.

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9rLQ TIL Ted Kennedy drove a car into the water, then fled the scene as his passenger died. He only received a two-month suspended jail sentence.
JNWk TIL there was a satirical study published in the British Medical Journal in 2003 in response to the antivaccination movement titled “Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge”. It’s conclusion? Throw antivaxxers out of planes without parachutes.
kOvDB TIL Concerned about the number of cobras in Delhi, British colonial officials created a bounty, only to discover secret cobra farms created to collect the bounty. When the officials shut down the program the farms released their snakes, meaning they had far more cobras than before they started.
gMQn4 TIL it’s impossible to speak coherently if you hear your voice as feedback on a phone call, Zoom, etc. Delayed Auditory Feedback disrupts normal speech causing repetition of syllables, mispronunciations, and omissions. These effects are often referred to as “artificial stuttering”.
W76K8 TIL that elements of the ancient Mesopotamian religion (first formed in the 6th millennium BC) may have survived until the early 20th century. The Shamsīyah, a sect of sun-worshippers, persisted in southeastern Turkey (sometimes outwardly adopting Christian customs) until the early 1900s.