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TIL that a prominent slavery apologist in the antebellum South argued that slavery was so wonderful it should be extended to whites

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0wl0L TIL that since 2006, Antarctic research stations representing countries all over the world have participated in their own film festival. Each station has 48 hours to produce a 5-minute film that includes 5 different elements: a sound, an object, a quote, a celebrity, and an action.
KAeQ TIL a 9 year old boy ran away from home to fight in the Civil War. The army adopted him as their drummer boy, being too young to be a soldier. At age 11, he became the youngest noncommissioned officer in Army history, and decades later he retired as the last veteran of the civil war on active duty.
YpPYP TIL William Goldman, writer of 'The Princess Bride', wrote the screenplay for his two daughters, who were 7 and 4 at the time. He asked them what they wanted to be in the story, with one saying a princess and one being a bride. He told them "That'll be the title."
xVvjb TIL Lyndon B Johnson worked 18-20 hour days without breaks and had no leisure activities. He also smoked heavily, knew every senators' ambitions, hopes, and tastes were and used it to his advantage in securing votes. And was the "[most] powerful majority leader in American history" as a congressman.
jaOR TIL that famous philosopher Bertrand Russell, while aboard a fight in Norway, asked the flight crew to seat him in the smoking section, claiming that “If I cannot smoke, I should die.” The plane later crash landed into a bay, drowning everybody in the non-smoking section.