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TIL American roulette wheels are different than wheels in other parts of the world. Casinos in the U.S. use a 0 and double 0 to decrease the odds of winning to 1/38, while other countries use just 0, making the odds 1/37 when betting individual numbers

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j68Av TIL that the official cause of Houdini's death on Halloween in 1926 was diffuse peritonitis; this is the result of a burst appendix. J. Gordon Whitehead's sucker punch did not cause his death because Houdini died 6 days later after the punch, and it was caused from a bacterial infection.
5JGP TIL that Bill Ward, drummer for Black Sabbath, was set on fire several times by his band mates as pranks. One almost resulted in his death
yVDne TIL that during WWI, the U.S. Army recruited bilingual women, nicknamed the "Hello Girls", to operate military switchboards near the front lines, ensuring rapid and accurate communication in both English and French.
6EwDW TIL that a 2012 study found 1,458 “new to science” bacteria species in our belly buttons. People’s bacterial profiles are unique, like fingerprints, and can be used in the same way. One person had a bacterium only ever found in Japanese soil," where he had never been.
4XY0g TIL for much of the 1800s in the UK, Sunday and Monday were the unofficial weekend, with Sunday for Church and Monday being adopted by workers as an unofficial holiday, mockingly called "St. Monday" (like a religious holiday). By the late 1800s, Monday became a workday, and Saturday a half workday.