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TIL that Prince originally wrote "Purple Rain" as a country song and intended it to be a collaboration with Stevie Nicks, but she felt too overwhelmed to do it.

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oBPeo TIL blind from birth, Seve Fyffe, 67, began training at age six and now holds a fifth dan belt in Aikido. "…if someone was foolish enough to attack me they'd be in for a shock. I can fight up to six people at a time. The hardest is four because they are coming at you from four different directions”
Z8KJQ TIL that in 1944, Lucien Carr, a member of the group that would become known as the Beat Poets, stabbed his former Boy Scout leader to death after being stalked by him for years. Several soon-to-be well-known writers helped Carr cover up the crime, including William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.
lA9V TIL The death toll of the Halifax explosion would have been significantly higher if not for a lone railway dispatcher. The railyard had evacuated after being warned of the impending explosion, but one man ran back to telegraph halt orders to all inbound trains for Halifax, saving hundreds of lives.
1a4N8 TIL: At the first major battle of the American Civil War, the wealthy elite of nearby Washington expected an easy Union victory. So much so that they brought their families to picnic and watch the battle.
j69ap TIL Lake Baikal contains 22–23% of the world's fresh surface water (more than all of the North American Great Lakes combined)