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TIL the film ‘Top Gun’ was made in collaboration with the Pentagon, enlistment spiked when it was released, the Navy set up recruitment tables at theaters playing the movie, and polls soon showed rising confidence in the military.

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mbQp TIL In 1774, Frederick the Great ordered Prussians to grow potatoes as protection against famine, but the populace were disgusted by them and refused. The king then planted “royal potato field” but allowed peasants to steal from it, which re-marketed the potato into a major food crop.
7EKr TIL that after 12 hours of continuous pain, a woman with no medical training successfully performed a C-section on herself with a kitchen knife and three glasses of hard liquor.
4Xol5 TIL that Ned Vizzini, author of “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” and other popular young-adult books that dealt with themes such as teen anxiety and depression, died by suicide.
8eBOa TIL that in Roman Republic women were not given personal names. Rather their names would reflect their ancestry. Sisters would have the same names differentiated by a number (or if there are only two sisters they be called the older and the younger) and later in life by their husband's name
OG8pg TIL that Hot Cheetos and Takis burned up the snack world in 2012, with schools in several states banning the foods as unhealthy and disruptive while confiscating them on site. That sparked a black market at some schools, with Takis becoming an underground currency.