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TIL an eight-year-old Bill Paxton was in the crowd the day John F. Kennedy died, and can be clearly seen in several photographs as he was sitting on the shoulders of an African-American man he’d just met.

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mBAY TIL Pennsylvania still charges its citizens an 18% tax on alcohol to pay for damages of the 1936 Johnstown flood.
ADgMn TIL After Hurricane Katrina, a group of Benedictine monks in Louisiana began selling low-cost, handmade cypress caskets. The state’s Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors issued a cease-and-desist order, claiming that only funeral homes could sell caskets. A judge ruled in favor of the monks.
wLl1J TIL that the late rapper 2pac Shakur read for the part of “Bubba” in the movie Forrest Gump. David Allen Grier, Ice Cube, and Dave Chappelle were offered the role of “Bubba” but all three turned down the role.
LQWvr TIL sugar beets were commercially introduced to Europe as an alternative to Indian sugar canes. As Britain blockaded sugar supplies to whole Europe in early 1800s, a different sugar route was required. During that time, Napoleon ordered in 32,000 hectares of sugar beets to be planted in France.
7rvPX TIL that in the true story that inspired "A League of Their Own", the Rockford Peaches didn't finish the tournament in second place, but in dead last