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TIL that in 1971 Dionne Warwick added an E to her last name after an astrologer friend told her it would bring greater success. Several years later, she reverted to the old spelling after a string of chart disappointments.

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PYpPw TIL: Marion Tinsley, of Ironton, Ohio, is considered one of the greatest checkers players to ever live. He lost only 7 games in his 45-year career, 2 of them to a computer. During one game against the Chinook program, he saw a mistake the computer made and predicted a win 64 moves into the future.
78VM7 TIL Chinese Qing Emperors had to rise at 4am for his first audience. They had rigid schedules to write comments on local government reports for hours a day, and their only permitted amusements were shows, calligraphy, and painting
vPKQR TIL in 2000 the tomb of Lynyrd Skynrd's lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines was broken into and their remains were desecrated, forcing their burial site to be relocated
R7gW6 TIL that despite the common misconception, in most countries ship captains are not actually able to perform marriages, and the United States Navy had to make a rule specifically forbidding captains from doing so.
OoBN4 TIL That the equals sign ( = ) was invented in 1557 after Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde got tired of having to write "is equal to" over and over again.