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TIL: Benjamin Franklin was the originator of raising taxes to pay for lower income families to do public service for a wage. City sweepers were the original public service job of the 1700s.

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8NgZ TIL that many Cherokee Indians sided and fought with the Confederacy during the American Civil War, both because many were black slave owners themselves and also because they resented the Union for their treatment during the Trail of Tears.
7rNNr TIL Sharks have Two Penises
dDRy9 TIL In addition to being blind, Stevie Wonder temporarily lost his sense of smell and taste after a car crash in 1973
5van TIL Sir Isaac Newton was a member of parliament in the UK, but his only contribution to the debates was to request the window to be closed because of a cold draught
8aVwG TIL in 1938 nazi Germany began an expedition to challenge Norwegian claims in Antarctica, primarily for control of whale oil; a hotly desired commodity for the production of margarine. The story has since developed into a conspiracy theory about secret nazi ice bases supported by alien technology