› added 6 years ago

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TIL that on the Mississippi River in the 1850s, the word "two" was often pronounced "twain." When leadsmen measured a depth of two fathoms, they shouted "mark twain!" The American writer Mark Twain, a former river pilot from Missouri, got his pen name from this phrase.

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l71k7 Today I learned,Greenland has a higher homicide rate than America per capita
oYLo TIL an Indiana man who repeatedly drugged his wife, raped her in her sleep, and videotaped the assaults over a three year period received no jail time, 8 years home confinement, and a 12 year suspended sentence. Prosecutors had asked for 40 years in prison.
4XoRg TIL about Ligertown, an incident in Idaho where about 50 sheriff’s deputies, SWAT teams, Fish and Game officers and Idaho State troopers killed 15 lions whose escape from a chicken wire-enclosed game compound for lions, tigers and crossbred "ligers″ forced parents to keep their children indoors.
m1r0M TIL that a woman named Violet Jessop survived three famous shipwrecks: the Titanic, the Britannic, and the Olympic.
j6Bav TIL of the Shakers, a christian sect that believed sexuality to be the root of all evil and original sin. All members went far enough in chastity to avoid shaking the opposite sex's hands. Their membership declined from a peak of 5000 in 1840 to 3 members in 2019 due to lack of births.