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TIL that on one occasion, J.S. Bach was in Dresden at the same time as a French organist named Louis Marchand. There was to be a competition between the two men to see who was better at improvisation. Marchand heard Bach practicing the day before the competition and left town.

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78GMZ TIL actress (Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Attack of the Giant Leeches) and Playboy centerfold (July 1959) Yvette Vickers died alone at home in 2010 and her mummified body was found by a neighbor in 2011.
ogr8 TIL A Pyrrhic victory is one in which the victor incurs such damage on the path to victory that the outcome is no better than defeat.
0dRp1 TIL in 1999, financial analyst Harry Markopolos had informed the SEC that he believed it was legally and mathematically impossible to achieve the gains Bernie Madoff claimed. It took four minutes to conclude that his numbers did not add up, and another minute to suspect they were fraudulent.
MDL7 TIL that author Ian McEwan helped his son write his A level English exam about one of his own novels, Enduring Love. The teacher disagreed with his interpretation.
PYr6E TIL toothpicks were popularized by Charles Forster who bought the patent & targeted stationers who would not buy them; hired Harvard students to go to those retailers and ask for toothpicks, who had to turn away customers. Forster would return to those stores and later sell billions.