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TIL that until the mid 20th century the avocado had a reputation as an aphrodisiac, which actually discouraged some consumers. During the 1920s, growers sponsored a promotional advertising campaign in the United States to deny that the avocado had powers for inducing sexual prowess.

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Oj7X TIL Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s first WWF persona was Rocky Maivia, a face (good guy). The audience rejected him due to his cheesy character, with chants of “Die, Rocky, die!”. After this, he became a heel (villain), referring to himself in the third person as “The Rock” and insulting the audience.
LVXP TIL that kid computers in the 80’s to mid 90’s came with BASIC computer program training, because people worried that every citizen needed to know computer programming or they would be left out of the computer revolution.
ADXon TIL that songwriter Esther Dean composed “S&M” for Rihanna, then was later cast as Cynthia Rose in the Pitch Perfect movies. This means in the “riff-off” scene in the first movie, Esther got to sing her own song, but as a completely different person. Full circle.
d8KvK TIL That cats were demonized in Europe during the Middle Ages. Many were killed off in an attempt to ward off evil, an action which ironically helped spread the plague.
DZ5V TIL that Astronomer Charles Messier was obsessed with finding comets. He only cataloged other “Messier Objects” in order to help him avoid wasting time when comet hunting.