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TIL that during prohibition in the US an exemption was made for whiskey prescribed by a doctor and sold through a pharmacy. The Walgreens pharmacy chain grew from 20 retail stores to almost 500 during this period, from 1920 to 1933

XEKJj TIL That the Father of General Douglas MacArthur, Arthur MacArthur Jr. was also military commander of the Philippines in 1900. Similarly he would also go on to be relieved of duty by a (future) president, Howard Taft in 1901.
XEd66 TIL Gotye has not monetised "Somebody That I Used To Know" on YouTube and turns down offers for its use in commercials as he doesn't like ads. He licenses the song to student films free of charge.
kOwWe TIL: The Beatles song Blackbird was written in the civil rights era directly to encourage black girls as they integrated Little Rock schools. In Britain a bird is slang for girl. Interview with McCartney himself clearly stating this is attached. 16:34 in the video.
9yMX TIL during the time of the devastating 2011 Joplin, MO tornado, a traveling circus was in town but couldn’t perform due to the weather. Instead, they enlisted the help of their circus elephants to remove damaged vehicles and heavy debris from the road to clear a path for first responders.
a86eN TIL there is an artificial island in Maldives called Thilafushi, which was created as a landfill to help with the waste from the capital city Malé. This dumpsite has been neglected and abandoned for the last three decades and it is now just starting to see positive changes.