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TIL that Grand Duke Alexis, son of Russian Tsar Alexander II, made regular overseas trips to have tattoos done by master artists, including a journey to Japan to get an elaborate dragon tattoo covering his entire right arm - and at the end of the 19th century, was the most tattooed person in Europe

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NgX8 TIL that the NBA’s all-time leading scorer (with 38,387 points), Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, has become an author and prominent historian since retiring from the NBA as well as a cultural ambassador for the United States.
bGW9 TIL that while on a visit to Poland, President Carter tried to tell the Polish people “I wish to learn your opinions and understand your desires for the future.” Instead, what he said translated to “I desire Poles carnally.”
6O9l TIL Arnold Palmer and Mister Rogers were high school classmates.
Y7m6B TIL until their deaths, two men claimed they wrote "Jingle Bell Rock: Bobby Helms, the singer, and Hank Garland, the guitarist. Both said they rewrote the original (bad) song by Joe Beal and Jim Boothe and turned it into a hit. But only Beal and Boothe got writing credits and royalties for it.
ne5bb TIL that the president of Taiwan is an unmarried, childless woman whose cats featured prominently in her campaign. She is one of the 1st women elected to lead an Asian state without coming from a political dynasty, and to govern a Chinese-speaking nation since Empress Wu Zetian in the 8th century.