› added 10 years ago

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TIL that Hitler was one of the wealthiest authors of all time. He accumulated a vast personal wealth from the royalties of his book Mein Kampf. As his fame rose, his income reached the equivalent of nearly $12M a year. This effectively allowed him to buy his way to Chancellor.

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OGGVY TIL: During the Gallipoli campaign a famed war correspondent tasked Keith Murdoch with smuggling a letter back to Britain criticizing the campaign. Military press censors stopped Murdoch and confiscated the letter, Murdoch simply copied the letter from memory and added his name.
5j9P TIL 37% of Americans plan to work until they get too sick or die
epwGL TIL about "The Pearl": An underground pornographic magazine issued monthly between 1879 and 1880. Its contents were three serial erotic tales simultaneously, devoted to sex in high society, incest, and flagellation. It was shut down by the British authorities for violating standards of obscenity.
QJmOE TIL Denver Pyle (Uncle Jessie from the Dukes of Hazzard) made a fortune by buying oil wells cheaply that were thought to be end-of-life, and holding until later technology improved to allow extraction of more oil, and only continued acting for the fun of it
N7V5Q TIL after NASA retrieved a stolen lunar sample collection bag from the 1969 apollo 11 moon mission, they inadvertently sold it at auction to a private collector for $995 in 2015. after going to court and losing their case & ownership, the collector sold the bag at auction for $1.8 million in 2017.