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TIL Washington Irving, author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, had a huge impact on American culture. He popularized the name "Gotham" for New York City & is responsible for our perception of Santa Claus as he wrote, in 1812, about Saint Nicholas flying over treetops in a flying wagon.

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1V18 TIL: 17 hours of wakefulness causes a level of psychomotor performance equivalent to that of someone over Australia’s drinking and driving limit (0.05%)
Brald TIL that Christopher Lee (known for his role as Dracula, Saruman, Count Dooku, etc.) thinks his best performance was as Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the documentary film "Jinnah." The film had positive responses after being shown at festivals but was never distributed to cinemas.
e04j6 TIL: After Ralph Nader Published "Unsafe at any Speed" in 1965, General Motors kept trying to discredit him, including hiring a prostitute to seduce him, but he turned her away. So they hired detectives to prove he was gay, but they were caught when Nader entered Congress and they tried to follow.
0danp TIL in 2007 Colgate was warned against using its advertising claim that "more than 80% of dentists recommend Colgate" in the UK. It implied 80% picked Colgate over its rivals, yet the dentists surveyed were able to name more than one brand & a rival was recommended almost as much as Colgate was.
gr6oA TIL in 1941, more than three million cars were manufactured in the United States... only 139 more would be made over the next 4 years of World War II