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TIL Clara Barton held a clerkship in the US Patent Office with pay equal to that of men. She was the first woman to hold a position or pay of this type in government. Being wrongly fired in 1857 she returned under Lincoln as a copyist to help pave the way for future women's equality in government.

Read more womenshistory.org

via reddit.com

yQ1Ja TIL about the "Well to Hell" hoax. The hoax suggested a wealthy Russian man drilled a hole many miles deep into the Earth eventually finding a cavern, and with heat resistant equipment, recorded the screams of the damned. The hoax travelled the globe.
GA9e1 TIL: Lead shot for frontier settlers was made in a tower by dropping molten lead 150ft into water.
M7Rw8 TIL that English law when discussing trademark infringement uses the "moron in a hurry" standard. It was famously used in Apple Corp. v. Apple Computer, where it was ruled even a moron in a hurry wouldn't confuse the Beatles' label with Apple Computer.
VMyg0 TIL Pablo Picasso worked up until the day he died at age 91; literally painting till 3 am on Sunday, April 8th, which was just hours before his death. His last well known self-portriat was done a little less than a year before his death, entitled Self Portrait Facing Death
kNKW TIL that a live snail was kept in a museum for years before anyone knew it was alive