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TIL that in 1989, a group called "The Breeders" caused a medfly infestation in California to protest spraying of the insecticide Malathion, devastating crops and costing $60 million in eradication efforts. The state ceased this spraying in response.

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LkdP0 TIL Composer Richard Wagner's career was saved by a Gay Monarch who was clearly in love with him. Wagner played along enough to get money to stage his operas, but never "sealed the deal" so to speak.
NX0e TIL: Battleships are obsolete and all have been decommissioned worldwide.
KYD7J TIL in 1997, rock band Cheap Trick re-recorded their second LP "In Color," with Steve Albini (of Nirvana's "In Utero" and Big Black fame) producing, seeking a heavier and rawer style. It was never released.
pYdW8 TIL as part of its foreign policy the Nixon administration actively portrayed the president as an out of control madman to try and convince hostile nations that he was capable of anything at anytime. Including nuclear war. Nixon dubbed this strategy "Madman Theory".
MegG0 TIL Taylor Swift was born into wealth. Her father is "from three generations of bank presidents" and worked for Merrill Lynch. At the age of 14 her family moved to Nashville where her father purchased a stake in Big Machine, the label to which Swift first signed.