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TIL HBO cancelled Game of Thrones spin-off Bloodmoon in 2019 after spending $30 million on its pilot. HBO's content chief explained that it was a hard project because George RR Martin had only written about 8 lines of text for the era the show was set in, so a lot more invention was required.

4dXR TIL that in 1989, a group calling itself “The Breeders” deliberately caused a medfly infestation in California, devastating crops and causing millions in damage. No suspects were ever identified.
6E5Z TIL on September 7, 1978, a Bulgarian Dissident Writer named Georgi Markov was waiting at a bus stop in London when he felt what he thought was a bug bite. Three days later he died, having been shot in the leg with a sophisticated umbrella-gun loaded with a bullet containing ricin poison.
ADDyl TIL in November 1783, when he was in Paris, Benjamin Franklin witnessed the flight of one of the first hot-air balloons. As the balloon soared into the air, a spectator asked Franklin what this new invention could be used for. Franklin responded by saying “What good is a new-born baby?”
5Agn TIL letters of the alphabet being referred to as “uppercase” and “lowercase” originated from the printing press. Typesetters would store all the individual letters in two cases. The capital letters were stored in the Upper Case and the rest were stored in the lower.
ADjn TIL that the FBI arrested 5 Israelis on 9/11 for filming the attacks and celebrating with cries of ‘joy and mockery’.