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TIL that on September 11th 1973, US-backed General Pinochet overthrew the democratically elected leader of Chile, Salvadore Allende. Pinochet ordered an air strike on the Presidential Palace, labor activists and famous folk guitarists were rounded up for torture, disappeared, and killed.

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mVGE TIL in 1809, a woman diagnosed with an ovarian tumor rode horseback 60 miles to try to have the tumor removed, an operation that had never been performed, knowing that most Doctors thought the procedure would kill her. After the 22.5 pound tumor was extracted, she lived another 32 years.
pMG8 TIL- In 1935 Congress “declared war on soil erosion and enlisted kudzu as a primary weapon. More than 70 million kudzu seedlings were grown in nurseries by the newly created Soil Conservation Service.”
KO4oE TIL The Godfather's famous cat-in-lap scene was entirely unscripted. A stray cat randomly wandered onto the set, so Coppola grabbed it and put it in Marlin Brando's lap without a word.
YpPjr TIL that cities such as Seattle and LA have a "mutual combat law", which occurs when two individuals intentionally and consensually engage in a fair fight, while not hurting bystanders or damaging property, and police do not intervene
1aAdd TIL Ron Howard stated that, after the first test preview of the film Apollo 13, one of the comment cards indicated "total disdain"; the audience member had written that it was a "typical Hollywood" ending and that the crew would never have survived.