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TIL Republicans and Democrats used to switch symbolic colors until the 2000 presidential election

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LkE9d TIL that Ching Shih was a pirate leader who terrorized the China Seas in the early 19th century. She is widely considered to be the most successful pirate in history, based on the fact that she commanded the largest crew ever assembled, and that she died in her own bed as a free woman.
VBwx8 TIL the song "One", popularized by Three Dog Night, was written by Harry Nilsson. Nilsson wrote the song after calling someone and getting a busy signal. The "beep, beep, beep" tone of the busy signal became the opening notes of the song.
4KLJ TIL that when Frank Morgan, the man that played the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, was picking out a jacket to use for his role as the Wizard, he turned out one of the pockets of the jacket and discovered a label indicating that the coat had once belonged to Oz author L. Frank Baum.
69P5Z TIL The "Burly Brawl" fight sequence in The Matrix Reloaded cost $40 million
jNQka TIL That the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was so powerful that it sped up the earth's rotation and shortened the day by several microseconds.