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TIL The 18th century “Old Grapevine Tavern” in New York City was a popular hangout of Union officers and Confederate spies. Lawyers, politicians, actors, and artists would meet there. It was the ideal place to spread rumors & gossip, leading to the popular phrase “heard it through the grapevine”.

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NLRP TIL that Sgt. William Carney received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the 2nd Battle of Ft. Wagner, in which Carney grabbed the U.S. flag as the flag bearer fell, carried the flag to the enemy ramparts and back, saying, “Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground!”
9Oxp TIL that Scarlett Johansson was asked by Oxfam (for whom she was a global ambassador) to stop supporting SodaStream in Israel (which had built illegal settlements in Palestine). She chose to leave Oxfam and do a SuperBowl advert for SodaStream instead.
eB86 TIL-25 hospitals in North America & Europe have visual messages strategically placed near the ceilings in operating rooms. These messages are only visible when read from above, and are part of an on-going study to test the validity people claiming to have ‘out of body’ experiences.
5VX7P TIL There is a Swiss political party against power point
wJX1 TIL that during filming of The Usual Suspects director Bryan Singer managed to convince all the major actors that they were Keyser Soze. When Gabriel Byrne first watched the film he was so stunned that he wasn’t Keyser Soze that he stormed off into the parking lot and argued with Singer for an hour.