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TIL that after arriving in Los Angeles at 19, a broke Charlize Theron tried to cash a check from her mother to pay for rent, but the teller refused. She got into a shouting match with him, drawing the attention of a talent agent behind her, who introduced her to casting agents and an acting school.

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9w4Pm TIL JFK's father Joseph Kennedy made much of his fortune through insider trading. FDR later made him chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. When asked why he appointed a crook, FDR replied, "set a thief to catch a thief." Kennedy proceeded to outlaw the practices that made him rich.
wXJ1 TIL that the “immunity to iocane powder” plot device has a basis on an ancient king
oRDJE TIL that the phrase ‘the die has already been cast’ comes from a supposed quote by Julius Caesar in 49 BC, “Alea iacta est”, when he crossed the rubicon. He was saying once he crossed the Rubicon with his army, the act of rebellion started a civil war in Rome and signified a point of no return.
Y77wW TIL when Kurt Angle won an Olympic Gold Medal in 1996, his opponent Abbas Jadidi tried raising his arm believing he'd won, leading Kurt to believe he lost. The referee then raised Kurt's hand, and Kurt got more emotional than otherwise cause he genuinely believed he'd lost.
6E4MQ TIL that German film director Werner Herzog nearly took LANSA Flight 508, but canceled at the last minute. The plane was struck by lightning, killing 91 of 92 crew members and passengers. The lone survivor was 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke, whose story was told in Herzog's documentary Wings of Hope.