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TIL that Lee Kuan Yew, the late prime-minister of Singapore was the only person in the world to bring a third-world country to the status of a ultra modern country in a single generation.

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WPXA TIL When Salmon P. Chase served as Secretary of the Treasury under Lincoln, he put his own face on the $1 bill so people would recognize him and further his political career.
Oo5x4 TIL the oldest living animals are black corals over 4,000 years old, nearly as old as the pyramids of Egypt
XJNk TIL that a “safer cigarette” (The XA Project) was developed in the 70s but tobacco companies pressured the inventor to bury it because it implied their cigarettes were unsafe.
7rJ0b TIL until December '98, songs could not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 unless they were released as a single. This resulted in many well-known 90s songs (e.g. No Doubt's Don't Speak, Sugar Ray's Fly) being absent from the chart's history. Under current rules, they would have likely hit #1.
xoRk TIL that in Nevada, a very reclusive man died. $7 million in gold bars were found in his house.