› added 8 years ago

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TIL since Ronald Reagan, each outgoing United States president has left a private message on the Oval Office desk for the incoming president on Inauguration Day.

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e0QY6 TIL Pat Morita was originally denied the opportunity to audition for the role of Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid and only got the part because he grew his hair and beard out during a low point in his life and the producers didn't recognize him when he he was accidentally invited for a script reading.
WN89 TIL that ‘Black Swan Theory’ is the idea that rare catastrophic events which are beyond the realm of normal expectation or predictability (but later inappropriately rationalized by hindsight) play a vastly larger role in the course of history than any predictable or foreseeable occurrence.
nW90B TIL Kōei kyōgi (public sports) are Japanese public races that can be gambled on legally. There are four types: horse racing, bicycle racing, powerboat racing, and asphalt speedway motorcycle racing. They are allowed by special laws and are regulated by local governments or governmental corporations.
D5Aj TIL that it took George Eastman, the inventor of Kodak film, four years to come up with a name for his product. His mother helped him, and had a few rules for what he wanted: something short, something impossible to mispronounce, something unique, and something that included his favorite letter, K.
M7178 TIL that sea bathing became popular in the 1700s -- women would wear loose gowns and sometimes had lead weights sewn in so that the gown did not float up in order to maintain their modesty