› added 4 years ago

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TIL in the 1800s Louisiana had the only state lottery system in America. It drew controversy for selling tickets across state lines and lost 90% of its revenue when interstate lottery sales were banned in 1890.

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Z8EN4 TIL The Rock was given an uncredited rewrite by British sitcom writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, creators of The Likely Lads and Porridge.
gr66X TIL that the children’s song “Do Your Ears Hang Low?” is a sanitized version of “Do Your Balls Hang Low?”, which was popular with British soldiers in WWI. General Douglas Haig once heard a column of soldiers singing it and went to berate their commander, only to find the commander singing along.
gMj44 TIL "Strange Fruit" is a song recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. It protests the lynching of Black Americans, with lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees. The song has been called "a declaration of war" and "the beginning of the civil rights movement".
VVW4 TIL a Russian gangster spent 15 years building a personal wooden skyscraper - at 144 feet 13 stories, it was the tallest stick-frame house in the world until it was partially demolished then burned down in a fire
9Zar TIL of Prophet Muhammad’s Last Sermon where he stated “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action.”