› added 3 years ago

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TIL Composer Dvořák was inspired by African-American spirituals while in America and became convinced they were the future of American music. He told a student, "these beautiful and varied themes are the product of the soil. They are the folk songs of America and your composers must turn to them."

0wO95 TIL that in Ancient Rome, for males, homosexuality was not only completely normal but also thought of as a sign of masculinity, but only if they were the top.
QNLAk TIL about Robert Brecheen, a convicted murderer who attempted suicide by overdose just prior to his execution in 1995, but he was found, revived and treated at a local hospital until he was better, then returned to prison and executed.
gMDEb TIL that Lincoln loved cats so much that he once fed them from the table during a formal White House dinner. When his wife told him that it was “shameful in front of their guests,” he replied “If the gold fork was good enough for former President James Buchanan, I think it is good enough for Tabby.”
xZJk TIL that, according to Eurodotus, lines from the movie “300” like “Tonight we dine in Hell” and “We fight in the shade” were really spoken in the real battle of Thermopylae
KYMGJ TIL that Margaret Hamilton, Computer Scientist, who is known for 'Leading the team that created the on-board flight software' for the Apollo missions, wasn't even hired until after the completed software had already flown to the moon in Apollo 8.