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TIL Alan Pinkerton fled to America for being associated with workers rights groups in Scotland. He aided John Brown, opposed slavery, and protected Lincoln from assassination plots. However, The Pinkertons would become most infamous for their violence and subterfuge of striking workers.

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6Em6X TIL the term “square meal” comes from the British navy where plates were square with raised edges to stop food spilling in rough seas.
8aP08 TIL that having an ancestor that caught the plague and survived could result in their descendants being immune to the HIV virus
nO5d TIL: “Go fever” is a term used by NASA to describe a few of their major disasters (Apollo 1/Challenger/Columbia). It describes a culture that develops when costs have mounted, and dissent is suppressed or ignored (due to group members not wanting to be seen as committed to the team’s progress).
R7ll9 TIL Pierce Brosnan grew up poor in Ireland, was left by his parents, raised by relatives and sent to a boarding house, studied painting, joined the circus, and was first discovered as an actor by playwright Tennessee Williams. Both his first wife and daughter died of ovarian cancer.
R1B4 TIL a philosophy riddle from 1688 was recently solved. If a man born blind can feel the differences between shapes such as spheres and cubes, could he, if given the ability, distinguish those objects by sight alone? In 2003 five people had their sight restored though surgery, and, no they could not.