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TIL: 27 years ago, Sinead O'Connor tore up the pope's picture on national TV. When performing a cover of Marley's "War" on SNL, rewriting a few of the lyrics to address child abuse. As she finished the song she produced and tore to shreds a photograph of the Pope shouting, "Fight the real enemy!"

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NxV6 TIL that in 2001, British author Giles Foden (Last King of Scotland) compared Eminem to Robert Browning, one of the foremost Victorian poets, and remarked that “a brief examination of ‘Stan’ reveals it to have all the depth and texture of the greatest examples of English verse.”
9YRmQ TIL in the Mughal Empire, which ruled South Asia in the 16th-18th centuries, the living standard and per-capita income were higher than in Britain (the highest in Europe); the price of grain was far lower than in Britain; and in 1600, 15% lived in urban areas - in Britain in 1700 it was only 13%
nWnmY TIL a study on cocaine use challenged the belief that the drug induces weight loss by suppressing appetite. Cocaine users ate way more food than non-users yet this didn't increase their fat mass and they didn't gain weight. Researchers concluded that cocaine reduces the body’s ability to store fat.
8O4a TIL of black rain, a form of precipitation caused by the immediate aftermath of a nuclear detonation, in which the water is black and sticky due to radioactive materials in the air.
x6g7 TIL that the character of Nigel Thornberry is strongly influenced by David Attenborough