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TIL Alice In Chains’ lead vocalist Layne Staley in response to an article in 1998 asking, “Who will wipe and change the band now?” after their manager retired, Layne mailed a jar of piss and a bag of his own feces to the magazine with a note attached that read, “Wipe and change this, motherf***ers!”

xVjl1 TIL Quebec was founded by request of the Native Wabanaki, who figured French guns and ships between them and their enemies would ensure survival. The Wabanaki are one of the few natives who still live on their native lands and speak their native languages as a result. (added sources in comments)
p8Vgp TIL The earliest depiction of Jesus was mocking graffiti carved into marble by a mischievous student to tease another student named Alexamenos, who was apparently a devout Christian. Jesus is drawn with the head of a donkey, because Romans believed Jews worshipped Donkeys.
d87Br TIL that J.K. Rowling wrote a real person into The Goblet of Fire. The girl was named Natalie McDonald, a Harry Potter fan who was dying of leukaemia while Rowling was still writing the book. Her character is a first-year who dons the sorting hat and is sorted into Griffindor.
l7ZON TIL Daniel O'Connell, the 19th-century Irish Nationalist leader, was fiercely opposed to slavery. Although his organization was largely funded by donations from the United States, he refused to take any money donated by southern slaveholders.
v1y48 TIL of bioengineering professor Manu Prakash, who invented a foldable microscope and centrifuge that cost under a dollar combined. The implications of these tools for impoverished countries are huge.