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TIL Jack Sheppard was an 18th Century London burglar who became a celebrity for escaping custody four times. His life inspired several plays, leading to Brecht and Weill's "Threepenny Opera" in 1928

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Q5wX TIL of a mother who mistakenly sent a female stripper to a high school classroom. The mother meant to send a “Gorilla-Gram” to her son for his birthday. The school officials did nothing and the woman proceeded to strip for the class.
0dN7N TIL 49 states (Washington is the exception) allow the removal and preservation of a dead person's tattoos
yVW9w TIL that parchment is made from animal skins or leather. All my life I always thought it was made from wood like other papers.
pbNO TIL Until 1616 coffee was essentially a monopoly run by Yemen. Merchants were forbidden to sell live coffee plants or seeds. That changed when Pieter van der Broecke, a Dutch merchant, stole coffee seeds and brought them back to Holland. 40 years later coffee had traveled as far as Sri Lanka.
mmRY TIL The US Government produced $2.10 pistol called the FP-45 Liberator in 1942 ($30 in 2013) to be used by resistance fighters during WWII in Europe. 500,000 were produced and are considered very collectible today.