› added 1 year ago

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TIL Scott Joplin, the groundbreaking "King of Ragtime", died penniless of syphilitic dementia in 1917 in a sanitarium at just 48 and was buried in an unmarked grave, largely forgotten until a revival of interest in ragtime in the 70s led to him winning a posthumous Pulitzer Prize.

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6EAPJ TIL in the 1960's the Sugar Industry funded and selectively picked skewed studies that helped blame saturated fat with causing heart disease instead of sugar
jJWa TIL That in the first two seasons of the show Kitchen nightmares, Gordon Ramsay rescued 21 restaurants. Only two are still open.
YpGd7 TIL that NATO carried out airstrikes against Yugoslavia for 78 days from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999 and that the US codenamed the military operation "Operation Noble Anvil" despite its official codename "Operation Allied Force"
yoE8 TIL that in 1979, the Yale class of ‘54 decided to do an investment experiment. They put together $375,000 to be invested in the riskiest fashion possible, which would then be donated to Yale. In 2004, they presented the university with… $90 million.
bbA7 TIL that the most senior officer to survive the sinking of Titanic, Charles Lightoller, went onto serve in World War I where he rammed a German U-boat as commander of HMS Garry, and helped evacuate British soldiers from Dunkirk in World War II