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TIL a student at Harvard felt as his literature professor was giving him unfair grades. To prove it, he turned in a paper by George Orwell, the author of 1984 and Animal Farm. After the paper only received a B- he decided to study something else. Years later he would write Jurassic Park.

9YlGm TIL that IPA (India Pale Ale) beer was invented because in the 1700s, it took a long time to ship beer from England to India that it would spoil in transit. So brewers increased the hops and alcohol content making it last the trip, but also gave it that distinct bitter taste.
jN0Ap TIL the actor who preformed "the voice" in Field of Dreams has never been revealed. Only the film's director, Phil Alden Robinson, knows who it is.
1aY8O TIL that Saparmurat Niyazov, the former President of Turkmenistan made a number of bizarre Decrees and Laws, including abolishing the native language word for bread and replacing it with his mother's name, banning opera & ballet and banishing dogs from the capital city because of their odor.
YpjMx TIL before 'The Addams Family' movie, actor Carl Struycken resembled the original Lurch so much that instead of a casting call, he had a meeting with the director and producer. The producer let him know he got the part by saying, "Well, that's what you're going to be for the rest of your life."
Eg6Nd TIL William Thornton, a phycisian and a close friend of George Washington failed to arrive early enough to treat him in 1799. Instead he proposed a plan to reanimate his frozen corpse using blankets, a transfusion with sheep's blood and a tracheostomy to pump his lungs with air. It was rejected