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TIL Handel composed his world famous "Messiah" oratorio in just under 30 days after receiving text compiled by wealthy land-owner Charles Jennens. Jennens was unimpressed by the final product, and claimed the quick turn around time was not due to excitement for the job, but by "careless negligence".

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9YoQG TIL about Loreta Janeta Velasquez who was a woman that disguised herself as a man and fought alongside her husband in the Civil War.
E1aRP TIL that in correspondence chess there is a concept known as the "Dead Man's Defense", where a player spends as much time as possible playing out a lost position in hopes that the opposing player simply dies or loses interest, thereby winning the game.
6EDQ7 TIL Tara was an Ulster loyalist movement in Northern Ireland that espoused a brand of evangelical Protestantism. Preaching a hard-line and somewhat esoteric brand of loyalism...
XERXR TIL it is not known who wrote "Twas the Night Before Christmas (A Visit from St Nicholas)" with Clement Clarke Moore claiming authorship but many contending that Henry Livingstone Jr was the actual author. The poem is largely responsible for the modern conceptions of Santa Claus.
wLg4M TIL about substitute teachers’ week. Every year in Alberta, Canada the Alberta Teachers’ Association dedicates a week to recognizing the work of substitute teachers.