› added 11 years ago

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TIL Gmail first launched on April 1st, 2004. It was widely assumed the service was an April Fools Day joke!

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via reddit.com

kOB01 TIL that, in 1943, four boys in Worcestershire found a skeleton inside a tree trunk, with its hand some distance away. In 1944, graffiti was found nearby saying "Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm", along with other messages. Neither the skeleton nor the writer of the graffiti has ever been identified.
WrmN TIL that when the government charged Wesley Snipes for failing to file tax returns for the years 1999 through 2004, Snipes responded to his indictment by declaring himself to be “a non-resident alien” of the United States. He got a 3 year prison sentence.
6BW8 TIL that Tommy Chong, while in jail, convinced stock broker Jordan Belfont to write a memoir about his story on Wall Street. That story turned out to be The Wolf on Wall Street
W7wPo TIL Haim Saban, creator of Power Rangers, composed the Inspector Gadget Theme
woEO6 TIL Brazil, despite being a country with no colonial territories, actually had its own overseas territory shortly after becoming independent. A naval base located in what was the Portuguese Congo/Cabinda Province, with the aim of suppressing the Atlantic slave trade.