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TIL after Germany’s openly-gay Foreign Minister called him “Europe’s last dictator”, Belarus’s President responded that it was “better to be a dictator than gay”.

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via reddit.com

NmQ1 TIL that William Shakespeare, wrote his own epitaph as a curse to ward off grave robbers. It reads, “Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones.”
QJepX TIL that Angela Morley, the first openly transgender woman to be nominated for an Academy Award, was John Williams’ primary orchestrator throughout the 1970s and 1980s. She helped write and arrange the scores for Star Wars, ET, The Empire Strikes Back, Home Alone, Superman, and Schindler’s List.
XdO8 TIL The ‘Irish Giant’ Charles Byrne was so afraid that the surgeon John Hunter wanted his body dissection and display, he arranged to be buried at sea. Hunter snatched Byrne’s cadaver on the way to the burial, reduced Byrne’s body to its skeleton and put it in his museum where it still remains
lobZr TIL In the early 1970s in Korea, elementary schools started leaving Chinese script off their curriculum. Students now begin Hanja classes in middle school, and some parents would rather their children did not waste their time with it at all. However, Hanja calligraphy remains a national pastime
nerob TIL in the early 1930s the Irving family on the Isle of Man claimed to be haunted by Gef the Talking Mongoose who would throw stones, ride the bus for the gossip and sing bawdy renditions of "Home on the Range." He described himself as “the fifth dimension...the eighth wonder of the world!”