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TIL that in 2008, Minnesotsa passed a state ban on smoking in restaurants and other nightspots, there was an exception for performers in theatrical productions. Some bars got around the ban by printing up playbills, encouraging customers to come in costume, and pronouncing them "actors."

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jGeE TIL In London from 1682 one could buy fire insurance: you attached a metal plate to their building ensuring that if there were a fire their insurance company would fight to extinguish it. If the building wasn’t insured the fire wasn’t put out unless it threatened to spread to an insured building.
oBX7W TIL Tchaikovsky, famous Russian classical composer, lived a life of tragedy. His mother died while he was in boarding school, his close friend died, his 13-year relationship ended, he had to keep his homosexuality private all his life, and he died a sudden death at 53 years old.
epQkk TIL Red bricks from St Louis are of very good quality, and brick thieves sometimes rip apart buildings to take their bricks.
ANObl TIL Chicory has been a historic substitute for coffee. Frederick the Great banned coffee in Prussia which led to the mass production of chicory by 1795 and the chicory drinks were common in Napoleonic France. Chicory drinks also became popular in Confederate states because of the Union blockade.
XEvaQ TIL A future Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force decided to become an aviation engineer when as a boy admired the American planes dropping sweets to him and other kids during the Berlin Airlift. Dr. Yarymovych is also credited for initiation of the Global Positioning System - GPS