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TIL that famed American composer Geroge Gershwin started his music career as a department store “song plugger”, playing piano sheet music by-request for potential customers so they could get a preview of the tune before buying it.

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e0VEg TIL that honey bees only die after they sting humans (or other mammals), but are able to repeatedly sting other insects because they can successfully retract their stinger
wLm5Y TIL the winner of the discuss throw in the first modern Olympics had never seen a proper discuss until he arrived in Athens. The version he commissioned to train with was 25 pounds heavier than the competition model because he based it solely on images from an ancient vase.
JrrV TIL A televangelist called Oral Roberts once told his viewers that if he didn’t receive 8 million dollars in 3 months God would kill him, and that he received over 9 million dollars in that period of time
846a TIL during the scene for the 2008 film Cloverfield in which the head of the Statue of Liberty falls onto a city street, the head’s size is larger than its actual size in real life. Originally it was made properly to scale, but test audiences complained it looked too small and unrealistic.
8aAv4 TIL on 1st April 1996 Taco Bell spent $300k on ads claiming that they purchased the Liberty Bell and named it Taco Liberty Bell, and achieved $25 million in free publicity. The White House Press Secretary got on the joke, saying the Lincoln Memorial was turned by Ford into Lincoln-Mercury Memorial.