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TIL David Bowie used to travel around in New York carrying a Greek newspaper in the belief that people would assume he was just a Greek man who looked like David Bowie and leave him alone.

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nevXr TIL that Americans used to say "alumin-ium" like the British, but the chemist who named the element couldn't make up his mind on how to spell it. This led to Webster's Dictionary printing it as "alumin-um", eventually causing American chemists to adopt the 'incorrect' spelling.
eglL TIL many prominent historians have good proof that before the industrial revolution, most people slept in two periods per day, rather than one continuous period of nightly sleep
m1EVM TIL that the actor who played Sallah in the Indiana Jones movies is the same actor who played Gimli in the Hobbit/Lord of the Rings Trilogy
9br7 TIL The Marine Corps Birthday is celebrated every year on 10 November in a cake-cutting ceremony where the first slice of cake is given to the oldest Marine present, who in turn hands it off to the youngest Marine present. The celebration includes a reading of Commandant Lejeune’s Birthday Message.[
LkOlZ TIL in 1971, Texas lawmaker Tom Moore tried pranking the Texas legislature by introducing a resolution to commend the Boston Strangler for population control. The resolution passed unanimously. Some use this as a criticism that legislators don't read what they vote on.