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TIL in 1967 MAD Magazine printed $3 bills featuring Alfred E Neuman's face, which where used by readers to trick early automated coin change machines, and led to a visit from the US Treasury Department to MAD's office

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O7V1 TIL social conventions in the 1800s dictated that boys between ages 0 to 7 wore dresses, grew out their hair, and dressed in pink. They were not allowed to have their first haircut until 6 or 7 years old, and wore dresses until then too. There is even a picture of FDR presented as such.
GY051 TIL when John Carpenter was at University he was required to visit a mental institution and saw a boy with a blank, pale, emotionless face who eventually became the inspiration for Michael Myers in his Halloween movies.
nKar TIL that the author of FIGHT CLUB came up with the foundation of the novel after being beaten up on a camping trip when he complained to nearby campers about the noise of their radio. When he returned to work, nobody would acknowledge his injuries instead asking things like “How was your weekend?”
raXW TIL when Titanic went down, its shipping company stopped the crew’s pay but charged families the freight costs of shipping the bodies back. Most couldn’t afford it, which is why there are so many memorials rather than graves for the more than 500 crewmen from Southampton who died aboard the ship.
v1xVR TIL of Eilmer of Malmesbury, an 11th century English monk who built a flying machine inspired by the myth of Daedalus. He successfully flew 200 meters off the roof of his abbey before crashing because he forgot to include a tail in the design.