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R5Rvl TIL Jimi Hendrix was inspired to record "All Along The Watchtower" after hearing The Alan Bown play it live one night. But due to delays and their record company not thinking it would be a hit single The Alan Bown released their version after Hendrix. It became one of Hendrix's biggest hits.
rRAy4 TIL that Ted Kaczynski, the "Unabomber", was caught after his brother, David, read Ted's manifesto (that Ted had demanded to be published in a major newspaper as a condition for ceasing the mail bombings), recognized Ted's writing style, and informed the FBI. David received a $1 million reward.
OVx1 TIL that the terms “upper case” and “lower case” come from the printing press days, when type blocks were stored in cases on shelves. The capital letters were stored on the upper shelf because they were used less, and the smaller letters on the lower shelf. Hence, upper and lower case of letters.
OoyQR TIL that William McAdoo's decision to close the NYSE for 4 months in 1914 to prevent Europeans from selling American securities and exchanging proceeds for USD, and then gold, led to a decisive shift in the global balance of economic power, from Europe to the USA
dKrE TIL that the English Dennis the Menace and the American Dennis the Menace were developed completely independently of each other and were coincidentally published on the same day on opposite sides of the Atlantic on 12 March 1951