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TIL: One in four American cowboys were black

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j67Ov TIL the president of NBC at the time tried to persuade the creator of Family Ties to replace Michael J. Fox. He said "that’s not a face you’re going to see on a lunchbox". Fox later had a lunchbox made with his picture on it and sent it to the exec with a note, "this is for you to put your crow in".
QD6p TIL that the Gatling gun was invented by a doctor who noticed that the majority of soldiers died in the civil war due to diseases not gun shot wounds
O6KL TIL the famous Swedish Ice Hotel, built every year out of giant chunks of ice from the Torne River, is now required by the Boverket National Housing Board to include fire alarms, despite being made entirely out of frozen water
rkld TIL that Alice Walton, heir to the Wal-Mart fortune and one of the richest people in the world, has had a history of reckless collisions. Her latest DWI arrest was expunged after the Texas trooper who arrested her was mysteriously suspended, and the statute of limitations was allowed to expire.
J1rxk TIL: Martin Luther King Jr. Was a Star Trek Fan. He admired "Star Trek" for its vision of a diverse and harmonious future. When actress Nichelle Nichols considered leaving the show, King persuaded her to remain, emphasizing her role as a vital representation for African Americans.