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TIL During the “Golden Age of Piracy”, famous pirates often had distinctive “Jacks” flags, which identified them to their friends and foes.

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RW81 TIL the White House grounds were open to the public until 1890, when the first lady ordered the grounds closed because she was creeped out by tourists fussing over her baby.
X0el6 TIL one man, Lawrence Pazder, can be attributed to starting the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, with a book “Michelle Remembers”, about his patient and future wife, Michelle Proby. The entirety of Proby’s “satanic” abuse has been discredited.
XLWP TIL that in the UK alcohol is a leading cause of death in men between the ages of 16 and 50.
4k4dN TIL hydrogen cyanide, more commonly know as Zyklon B, has been detected in the interstellar medium (space) and in the atmospheres of red giants.
vYlr TIL NBA player Latrell Sprewell (famous for choking his coach) turned down a $21 million contract offer claiming it wasn’t enough to feed his family. He never played again and went bankrupt.