› added 4 years ago

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TIL Gail Brewer Giorgio, whose 1978 novel "Orion" was about a singer who faked his own death. Her novel was compared to Elvis Presley theories and recalled. The rest of her career was spent writing books questioning if Elvis was really dead, appearing on talk shows and having a 900 number about it.

8OMG TIL that on his way to Egypt, Napoleon conquered Malta where he spent 6 days. During these days he abolished the nobility, freed the slaves, granted freedom of speech, gave Jews religious freedom, abolished the inquisition and introduced scientific subjects to the University of Malta
ep4p4 TIL that the Volga Germans refused to eat tomatoes, prior to becoming "Americanized", on account of tomatoes being a relative of the poisonous nightshade plant.
QJjGX TIL the present-day eastern edge of Tennessee was an autonomous territory named Franklin (or Frankland) that self-governed for 4 years. It applied to become the 14th US state, but dissolved after the vote failed in Congress.
BPmb TIL that during the Civil War, the Union ignited 8,000 lbs of gunpowder, destroying a mine under the Confederate encampment, then proceeded to charge into the crater from the explosion, got stuck in said crater, and were brutally massacred due to Confederate high ground.
OLLX TIL that in 1945, Dwight D. Einsenhower predicted that people would try to dispel the holocaust as a falsehood, and ordered all possible photographs taken of the Nazi crimes to hinder any such attempts.