› added 8 months ago

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TIL that the 1904 Olympics were originally awarded to Chicago. But St. Louis, which was hosting the World’s Fair that year, threatened to undermine the Olympics with an even bigger sports competition. Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, then moved the games to St. Louis.

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epVxg TIL the term "death row" comes from an assassination attempt on FDR. The shooter Giuseppe Zangara was sentenced to death, but there was already a convict awaiting execution, and FL law forbade them from sharing cells. A second cell was built, turning the "death cell" into the first "death row."
VM64k TIL Newton dumped his South Sea shares, pocketing a 100% profit totaling £7,000. But just months later, swept up in the wild enthusiasm of the market, Newton jumped back in at a much higher price — and lost £20,000 (or more than $3 million in [2002-2003's] money.
9xAm TIL that Liberace never publicly admitted that he was homosexual, and on more than one occasion sued a publication for implying that he was.
QNjQk TIL that Ahn Jung-hwan, the South Korean footballer who scored the winning goal against Italy at the 2002 World Cup, was playing for an Italian team at the time and had his contract terminated by the teams owner, citing his goal as the reason
aG1N TIL that Marvin the Martian was created as a satire of Cold War era Soviets. Marvin is from the red planet, wears red, feuds with Bugs Bunny (who represents the USA) as a parody of the Space Race, is armed with missiles capable of incredible destruction, and has an obsession with global domination.