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TIL the father of chiropractic treatment claimed he learnt about the treatment from a seance with a ghost and attributed 95% of all diseased to subluxations - i.e., misaligned vertebrae

N75O1 TIL The Soviet Union allowed theaters to play The Grapes of Wrath because of its depiction of the plight of the poor under capitalism, but it was later withdrawn because Russian audiences were amazed that even the poorest Americans could afford a car.
QJ16d TIL Tutankhamun's original name was "Tutankhaten," as his parents worshiped the god Aten. When he was king, he changed his name to promote a transition back to the old religion (with Amun being the king of the gods).
R5V47 TIL Nintendo copied LEGO in the 60´s and outsold them for a few years in Japan. Their N&B Block series were very similar to LEGO an way more popular because they had more round shapes. Nintendo stopped the N&B Block series in the early 70s, most likely due to legal pressure from LEGO.
yV558 TIL about James Jakob Williams: An African-American marine that - after fighting in the Second Barbary War (1815) - traveled to Greece where slavery had been abolished. There, he fought for the liberation of Greece from the Ottoman empire. He died in 1829: a free man, in a free Greece.
LaEV TIL that Gene Roddenberry envisioned Jean-Luc Picard as someone who was “masculine, virile, and had a lot of hair,” so Patrick Stewart auditioned for the role wearing an “awful looking” hairpiece. His performance impressed everyone so much that they hired him anyway, and made him ditch the toupee.