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TIL the largest anti-smoking ad campaign “Truth” is funded by the tobacco companies as part of a settlement to be exempted from individual lawsuits stemming from harm caused by tobacco.

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via reddit.com

rOad TIL people believed that sufferers of Williams Syndrome, who have charming & extraordinarily kind personalities, had extraordinary, even magical powers. The word ‘elfin’ was used to describe their facial features. This is believed to be the origin of elves, fairies & 'wee folk’ in English folklore.
XEBZD TIL of the 'Battle of Brisbane' (1942), a standoff between American soldiers and Australian citizens leading to one death and hundreds of injured on both sides. The reports were censored to preserve wartime morale.
E0Bw TIL that two barber’s poles next to each other spinning in opposite directions are used to signify a brothel in Korea
kO4N5 TIL that the tale of Hansel and Gretel might have originated during the Great Famine of 1315 - 17. Food was in such short supplies that people abandoned their kids (probably why Hansel and Gretel are lost in a forest) and that people even resorted to cannibalism (explains the cannibalistic witch)
yVyDv TIL about Laura Dekker, a Dutch sailor who at the age of 16 became the youngest person to sail around the world.