› added 7 years ago

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TIL Steven Seagal once claimed he could get out of any chokehold. Answering the challenge in 1991, Judo practitioner Gene LeBell choked Seagal out, causing him to shit his pants.

Zp4ea TIL that when Nicolas Cage proposed to Patricia Arquette, she told him to get odd objects to prove his affection. They were J.D. Salinger's autograph, a Bob's Big Boy statue, a black orchid, and a Hill Tribe wedding outfit. Despite the list being intended to be impossible, he found them.
kOdXB TIL Fred Phelps was excommunicated from Westboro Baptist Church before his death for having a change of heart about his religious beliefs and acknowledging the "Equality House," a local LGBT support organization, as "good people."
PeOL TIL that Married With…Children was a reactionary TV show meant to contrast The Cosby Show; whereas The Cosbys were the first affluent black loving family on TV, the Bundy’s were the first who were all white, poor and hated each other. In fact, the working title was originally “Not The Cosbys”.
7JKP TIL that the idiom “the cat’s out of the bag” is derived from a practice by some merchants who sold piglets in bags. If the buyer was distracted, the merchant would quickly switch the piglet w/ a cat. The buyer wouldn’t realize until they got home and let the cat, and not a piglet, out of the bag.
AJOo TIL that the New York Times published a crossword in 1996, during the Presidential election, which seemed impossible to answer. The clue for 39 Across was: “Lead story in tomorrow’s newspaper” but both the answers “ClintonElected” or “BobDoleElected” could have fit.