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TIL that Zhang Xianzhong was a leader of a peasant revolt who conquered sichuan and practically depopulated the region so thoroughly that some sources estimate that 2 million people died under his rule.

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LpVp TIL that a book attributed to Penelope Ashe was actually written by a group of 24 journalists. It was designed to be deliberately terrible with a lot of sex, to illustrate the point that American literary culture had become mindlessly vulgar. The book became a bestseller in 1969.
pmMZ TIL that in 2010, newly elected mayor of Reykjavik Jon Gnarr announced that he won’t form coalition with anyone who hasn’t seen all five seasons of ‘The Wire’.
rROQW TIL "Tarzan" actor Johnny Weissmuller was playing golf during the Cuban Revolution when his cart was suddenly surrounded by rebel soldiers. After doing the Tarzan yell for them, the guerrillas recognized him and even escorted him to his hotel.
nWGoG TIL about Botulf Botulfsson, the only person executed for heresy in Sweden. He denied that the Eucharist was the body of Christ, telling a priest: "If the bread were truly the body of Christ you would have eaten it all yourself a long time ago." He was burned in 1311.
4JPw TIL in the 18th century many prominent voices were concerned by an ‘epidemic’ affecting young people whereby they were spending too much time reading books. It was diagnosed as 'a dangerous disease’ called 'reading rage, reading fever, reading mania or reading lust.’