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TIL that in 1787 a man was hanged for deserting and re-enlisting in the British Army 47 times, in order to get the large bounty obtained upon joining the army.

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mxOjx TIL that after Sputnik’s successful launch in 1957 and American failure to launch their own first artificial satellite into space a few weeks later, the Soviet delegate to the UN offered the US representative aid “under the Soviet program of technical assistance to backwards nations"
WkvpY TIL one of the chief executives of American Motors had a habit that every time he thought his salary and bonus was too high for a year, he would give the excess back to his company.
GYjYg TIL The great composer J.S. Bach, who created monumentally beautiful choral works like the St. Matthew Passion, got into a dagger fight with one of his students after calling him a "nanny-goat bassoonist".
RLkl TIL Tupac may have accidentally shot a six year old boy in 1992, but was never criminally charged despite evidence the fatal bullet came from a handgun registered to him. He later settled a wrongful death suit brought by the boy’s mother out of court for $300K-$500K
0gg1 TIL that Slash tried out for Poison and was rejected due to a lack of spandex and hairspray.