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TIL rat-baiting was a common sport in 19th-century England. Occasionally desperate men would compete against dogs to see who could kill the most rats, some of the more successful becoming minor celebrities.

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a5xN TIL Both Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte played, and we’re beaten by a, chess robot. The robot toured the world, beating masters and novices alike. However, in reality it was just a man in a box.
oDGA TIL: That the voice of male UK Siri, Jon Briggs, did not know he was the voice of Siri until he recognized his own voice on a iPhone 4s commercial.
gMBb8 TIL of the 1937 Fox vault fire, in which 40,000 films were destroyed. 75% of all 20th Century Fox films from before 1930 were lost. There are actors for whom not a single copy of a single one of their films survive.
eZyk TIL in the U.S. it’s illegal for employers to tell employees not to talk to their co-workers about compensation
BO1x TIL the mascot of The Evergreen State College in Washington is the geoduck, a clam with a large phallic appendage, which thrives in nearby Puget Sound. In honor of its mascot, the school’s motto is “Omnia Extares,” Latin for “let it all hang out.”