› added 4 years ago

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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.

Read more ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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NEEQ TIL: Roald Dahl was a spy. He seduced American women for Britain, sometimes begging to be freed from assignments because some of the married women were too “frisky”. That was before he wrote “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.
mLKy TIL: The Soup Nazi is real. Weeks after the episode aired, Seinfeld and the production team went to Soup Kitchen International for lunch, where they were berated by Ali Yeganeh (the soup nazi) for “ruining” his business. He then bellowed, “No soup for you!” and ejected them from the restaurant.
Onx7 TIL An alligator’s immune system can fight HIV.
vPKL8 TIL Macaulay Culkin is the Godfather of Michael Jackson's kids
69PjZ TIL in 1973 two players for the New York Yankees held a press conference to announce they were swapping families with each other (wives, children and their dogs)