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TIL the Sega Master System is still alive in Brazil with new games still being made

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D1jlr TIL that the long-standing notion of late WWII 'Kamikaze' pilots as hyper-nationalist zealots was largely fiction. Many pilots were reluctantly drawn from the educated and liberal in Japan, and many expressed frustration at the futility of their nation's cause and the sanctity of the Emperor.
9wvVD TIL "Wacky WallWalkers" were a fad in the early 1980s. The toys were molded out of a sticky elastomer and shaped similar to a spider. When one was thrown against a wall, it would then "walk" its way down. Over 240 million were sold. They were also free in specially marked boxes of cereals.
PYXLe TIL of autistic savant Mark DeFriest, aka Houdini of FL. Arrested on a minor charge as a teen, he got a life sentence from escapes/attempts & pranks. He made a zip gun from a toothpaste tube, replicated keys from memory. In & out of prison since 1978, 27 yrs in solitary; he's in prison to this day.
R5kZa TIL: film critics Siskel & Ebert had a policy of never taking photos with popcorn or movie candy because they believed it devalued the seriousness and artistic integrity of films.
77Rp TIL American outlaw Billy the Kid was fluent in Gaeilge (the Irish language) and he once acted as a translator for the daughter of an Irish ranch owner when she needed to converse with American ranch hands because she was only fluent in Irish