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TIL that in 1970 President Nixon forced the Secret Service to wear absurd uniforms inspired by ceremonial palace guards in Europe. They were so mocked that they lasted one month and were eventually sold to an Iowa marching band.

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4ZyJ TIL A 1963 Gallup poll found 60% of Americans opposed MLK’s march on Washington
QjXe TIL that the caffeine in the coffee plant, like capsaicin in chili peppers, is meant to be a toxic substance to deter herbivores.
b96YZ The rise of Genghis Khan and the Mongolian empire was responsible for the annihilation of an estimated 40 million people, but there were clearly more than a few conquests off the battlefield as well. A 2003 study suggests that 1 in 200 men are direct descendants of Genghis Khan. Studies of Y-chromosome data found that almost 8 percent of men living in the former Mongolian empire carry nearly identical Y chromosomes. Researchers believe this is attributed to a unique set of social selection circumstances put into play by the spread of the Mongolian empire. In this week’s "Today I Learned," research scientist Albert Lin elaborates on Genghis Khan as a romantic.
ZGQY TIL in 1994, the operational head of the U.S. Public Health Service was fired for saying masturbation should be encouraged in order to prevent people from engaging in riskier forms of sexual activity.
awAaL TIL The traditional "last meal" on a death row didn't begin as a compassionate act but as a way to bribe their ghost not to haunt the executioners