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TIL that actor Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket, Stranger Things) turned down the lead role of Pete Mitchell in “Top Gun” (1986) as he grew up with siblings that served in the Vietnam war. Modine said: “There’s nothing sexy or romantic about war.” The role ultimately went to Tom Cruise.

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QYjE TIL of Johnie’s Coffee Shop in L.A., which closed in 2000 but remains open for filming only; The Big Lebowski, Reservoir Dogs and American History X have all featured the diner. It was declared a historical landmark in 2013.
QNjWM TIL of the Age of the Sturlungs, a civil war in the Icelandic Commonwealth where chieftains fought each other and culminating in the signing of the Old Covenant leading to Norwegian kingship.
awWJo TIL about Tusla's "Black Wall Street" It was the wealthiest Black community in America at the time before being attacked by an angry white mob which killed hundreds of Black residents and destroyed 35 city blocks. It has been called "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history
0wXGp TIL electricity was first installed in the White House in 1891. It was such a new concept that President Benjamin Harrison and his wife both refused to touch light switches due to their fear of electrocution so the White House staff had to follow them around and turn the lights off and on for them
nBQY TIL Einstein originally rejected the Big Bang theory, saying to its author “Your calculations are correct, but your physics is atrocious.”