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TIL when Stalin got his first position as Secretary of the Communist Party, Leon Trotsky mocked his secretarial and low duties by nicknaming him "Comrade Index Card". Stalin eventually rose in ranks to rule the USSR, and eventually exiled Trotsky from the entire country.

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yJyv TIL that in the 1920’s, the Ford Motor Company produced so much factory wood waste that they manufactured it into charcoal and sold it under the name Ford Charcoal. The company was later renamed to Kingsford Charcoal.
ADlZB TIL that Rob Paulsen, the voice of Yakko from Animaniacs, recorded the "Countries of the World" song is a single take.
JPYQ TIL the highest-ever federal tax rate was in 1954: 92% for those making over $1.7 million (in 2013 dollars). [pdf]
KYdd6 TIL Margaret of Provence, queen consort of France, was the only woman to ever lead a crusade, when her husband was captured and she was in charge of his army and the negotiations to rescue him.
LLOV TIL that in the 80s (a decade before the WWW started to come on its own) 25 million people in France went on-line to bank, check the weather, chat, make reservations, socialize, check stock prices, and also for porn. No computer: they used a free Minitel terminal.