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TIL that New Year's Eve is called "Hogmanay" in Scotland, and includes the last few days of the old year and the first few days of the new year. Hogmanay is celebrated with gift-giving and visiting the homes and friends and neighbors, with the first guest believed to bring "good luck for the year".

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xxmo TIL The poem “First they came” was actually written by a repentant Nazi supporter who wound up in a concentration camp himself. While his poem is usually taken as a warning about political apathy, it can also be taken as a warning against the dangers of divisive politics.
5Yewp TIL of Punch and Judy, a popular puppet show from the 1600s. In the show, Punch usually ends up killing his baby, his wife, a policeman, the devil and a variety of other characters by beating them with his ‘slapstick’. The phrase “pleased as punch” comes from Punch’s gleeful self-satisfaction.
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KYQ7R TIL that the famous "wedding march" comes from Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin. However, in the opera, Lohengrin's marriage falls apart immediately following this scene.
PYoMw TIL Richard Nixon was offered a scholarship to Harvard , but wasn’t able to attend because his family lacked the money for him to travel there and to sustain his Room & Board .