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TIL Chris Columbus was originally suppose to direct "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," but dropped out because Chevy Chase was difficult to work with. A few weeks later he got the script for "Home Alone," which revitalized his career.

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oBmDA TIL in 1899, Denver journalists wrote a fake story that China was tearing down the Great Wall. To their surprise it was picked up by a major newspaper with "confirmation" from officials and illustrations of the wall being torn down. The hoax spread across the U.S. and Europe without being debunked.
oRJKr TIL Whiplash was originally an 18-minute short film that received acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, drawing investors to fund the full length film which cost $3.3 million to make and grossed $49 million at the boxoffice.
ne49o TIL because Grover Cleveland served on two non-consecutive terms as President, people get confused about the number of men that served as US Presidents (44) vs the number of Presidential Administrations (45).
rR6M TIL that Judit Polgar, a female chess player who defeated Kasparov, Karpov, and Spassky, was part of an experiment by her father to prove (chess) genius is made, not born.
x68g7 TIL that in 2012 six Italian geologists were found guilty of manslaughter for failing to predict an earthquake that killed more than 300 people. They were sentenced to 6 years in jail, but the ruling was later overturned.