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TIL The influenza epidemic of 1918 killed an estimated 675,000 Americans (far more than the 53,402 who died in combat in World War I). The impact was so profound as to depress average life expectancy in the U.S. by >10 years & may have played a significant role in ending the World War 1 conflict.

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VMpMm TIL The Russian city of Blagoveshchensk, population 220,000, looks over the river at the Chinese city of Heihe, home to almost 2 million. They form a free trade zone where Russians cross into China to go on shopping trips, while Chinese tourists enter Blagoveshchensk daily to take city tours
vPYKr TIL that there were two contemporary inquiries into the sinking of the Titanic (British and American). The British inquiry focused more on how the disaster had come about, while the American version was much more about who should be blamed.
Mlr0 TIL that when a dignitary complained to President Theodore Roosevelt about Alice Roosevelt (his daughter) smoking on top of the White House, Roosevelt replied, “I can be President of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.”
oBVLA TIL in 1900s there was a death row inmates baseball team and their executions were dependent on their performance.
ADbBl TIL Ben Hecht started screenwriting after Herman J. Mankiewicz (Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane) sent him a telegram arguing that "millions are to be grabbed out here, and your only competition is idiots." Hecht became one of the most successful screenwriters of all time with 2 Oscars & 6 nominations.