› added 1 month ago

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TIL that Samuel "Sam" Houston, the 1st and 3rd President of the Republic of Texas who served as Governor of both Tennessee and Texas, and for whom the city of Houston in Texas is named, was descended from the Houston baronets and Clan Houston in Scotland. He was also a member of the Cherokee Tribe.

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6EnYX TIL that a Chinese billionaire sparked social backlash by purchasing a rare 500 year old tea cup for 38 million dollars, and then drinking tea out of it. To appease people angered by his using it, Liu Yiqian said “I’m not going to use it ever day.”
E1bGd TIL that reruns of the 90s tv show "Friends" is a billion dollar per year industry, and the cast members each take 2% of revenue or 20 million dollars each.
GYWyN TIL a Hungarian chemist during WWII hid his Nobel Prize by dissolving it in acid and leaving it on a shelf due to the Nazi ban on its citizens from accepting the Nobel Prize. After the war, he reconstituted the gold from the acid, returned it to Sweden, and got the medal cast again.
XrNR TIL L. Ron Hubbard was quoted saying “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be to start his own religion.” years before starting Scientology
78YOp TIL According to Haiti's Constitution, all Haitians, regardless of skin color, are to be considered black in the eyes of the law.