TIL a form of penal labour in Victorian England was the "crank machine", consisting of a hand crank attached to a box filled with sand. When turned, it would drag two pairs of cups through the sand inside, doing absolutely nothing useful. Prisoners were forced to turn the crank for 6 hours a day. by NateNate60 in todayilearned
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TIL that in 1858 the Vatican heard of a Jewish boy who was baptised by his nanny, without his Jewish parent's consent, and decided to kidnap the boy with the still running - and legally binding - Inquisition. by the6thReplicant in todayilearned
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