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TIL Voltaire became extremely rich by taking advantage of a weakness in the French lottery system. In 1729, he collaborated with mathematician Charles Marie de La Condamine and others to make use of a profitable opportunity in the French national lottery.

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8awXb TIL In 1997 there was a contest to win an exact replica of The Simpson's house, fully furnished. The winner could keep the home or trade it for $75,000. The winner took the money. The house was stripped of its decor before being sold.
x6J7o TIL there are 16.7 million IP addresses reserved specifically for amateur HAM radio operators
4XYBo TIL Jewish Americans have made a tradition of eating Chinese food during the holiday season since the early 1900s
5VAgR TIL There is 97% overlap between swimmers and great white sharks in So. California beaches
R7mN7 TIL Scholars of Mesoamerica are increasingly skeptical of the idea that the Aztecs viewed Cortes as a "God" and believe it was a myth invented by the Spanish in the years following the conquest. The myth became so accepted that it even made its way into indigenous sources like the Florentine Codex.