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TIL of a bar in New Mexico opened in 1896. At one point it was owned by a Justice of the Peace who held court there and jailed the guilty in the back. During prohibition, it ran as a pool hall with a secret trap door leading to the speakeasy in the basement. The Capitol Bar remains open to this day!

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477b TIL that a shortage of sand has created a Sand Mafia in India, employing 35 million people and generating $126bn annually.
lo9G7 TIL Writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is the only person to have won both a Booker Prize and an Oscar. Readers initially assumed Jhabvala to be Indian because of her portrayals of the nuances of Indian lifestyles. Later, the revelation of her true identity led to falling sales of her books in India
5Y1Xk TIL that before Miguel de Cervantes wrote part one of Don Quixote at the age of 58, he lived in exile in Italy, fought in the battle of Lepanto where he lost the use of his left hand, was captured and ransomed by pirates, excommunicated by the church and was imprisoned for accounting irregularities.
nekPG TIL as Dictator, Julius Caesar ordered the deliberations and minutes of the Roman Senate to be published as an act of transparency.
0ZA5 TIL after Fidel Castro’s health was reported to be “almost recovered”, President Bush said, “One day the Lord will take Castro away.” In response, Castro: “Now I understand why I survived Bush’s plans and the plans of other presidents who ordered my assassination: the Lord protected me.”