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TIL Ottoman coffee ban (1600s): An Ottoman Sultan outlawed coffee and even executed those who consumed it.

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OGjMX TIL in 1957, the BBC aired an April Fools news report about 'spaghetti harvesting' in Switzerland, showing farmers picking pasta from trees. The hoax was so convincing that even the BBC Director General was fooled, and viewers called in asking how to grow their own spaghetti trees.
7rYwZ TIL that Norman Mineta’s baseball bat was confiscated when he was sent to a Japanese American internment camp as a boy. As a Congressman, he was sent a $1500 bat, which he had to send back, as it exceeded a price limit on gifts. He was quoted as saying, “The damn government’s taken my bat again.”
VLmQ TIL a Samurai became a ‘Ronin’ if he didn’t commit 'seppuku’ (ritualistic suicide) following the death of his master
WkRrN TIL Sylvester Stallone's main inspiration for Rocky was his dog, Butkus the Bull Mastiff
N7yxN TIL of the Axial Age is era between 8th to the 3rd century BCE when many great sages appeared, including the Buddha, Socrates, Confucius, Jeremiah and the mystics of the Upanishads. It's been described by as 'a deep breath, a pause for liberty between the age of empires' where a new humanity began.