› added 7 years ago

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TIL that the influential American poet Walt Whitman’s collection of poetry,“Leaves of Grass”, was so controversial when first published in 1855 for its reference to open sexuality & homosexuality, that a major literary weekly publication recommended in its review that Whitman kill himself.

vrJ7 TIL that within a year of being elected in 1980, Ronald Reagan was responsible for repealing restrictions on advertising to children, opening the floodgates for shows like Transformers, GI Joe and Carebears to dominate kids television and toy isles.
yVDQe TIL that Richard Nixon had the White House Secret Service Uniformed Division's uniforms redesigned for formal occasions in 1969. The white and gold uniforms were widely criticized, and subsequently pulled from service. Many eventually wound up as high school marching band uniforms
x6PxB TIL that 569 million Slim Jim meat sticks are produced annually. The Slim Jim was invented in 1929 in Philadelphia and gained popularity in 1993, when Slim Jim began using Macho Man" Randy Savage in commercials, with the slogan, "snap into a Slim Jim".
g7KX TIL that 12 African nations have come together pledging to build a 15 kilometer wide band of trees that will stretch all the way across Africa, 7500 kilometer, in order to stop the progressive advancement of the Sahara.
kOgvg TIL that some male Black Widow spiders have discovered a way to mate with juvenile females by using their fangs to “unseal” the genitals. This protects the male from being cannibalized.