› added 4 years ago

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TIL people were still using the phrase 'abracadabra' in the late 1600s to try to ward off the plague in London

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e06DE TIL that Henry Ford's intense hatred of Jazz drove him to pump tons of money into promoting country music, which was then called "old time music" and helped establish country music culture as we know it today.
4Nlg TIL a pregnant employee at a Christian school was fired for having premarital sex. The school subsequently offered a job to the man who had gotten her pregnant.
0wVgL TIL that Isaac Newton was born on Christmas day, 1642 according to the Julian calendar. But when the British changed to the Gregorian calendar his birthday retroactively changed to January 4, 1643.
loyXr TIL Madame Nhu, Catholic first lady of South Vietnam (sister-in-law of unmarried President Diem), publicly responded to monk Thich Quang Duc's self immolation with "Let them burn & we shall clap our hands," insulting many among the Buddhist majority. Her father, ambassador to the US, disowned her.
Wk6R4 TIL the years-long legal battle between the owners of Hello Kitty and Miffy ended after the Japanese tsunami... both parties agreed to immediately drop the case and donate their anticipated legal fees to the Tsunami Relief Effort