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TIL the first 'spam' email was sent 40 years ago this month, when Gary Thuerk sent a message advertising a new model of computer to all 393 ARPANET addresses on the West Coast of the US.

AD5Za TIL I learned that free internet porn is largely the work of Fabian Thylmann who bought the sites and changed the business model from fee based to ad based revenue.
npyr TIL that during the time Jack Johnson (the first black world champion heavyweight boxer) was incarcerated in Leavenworth, he modified a wrench for tightening loosened fastening devices and received a patent for his improvements on April 18, 1922, known as US Patent 1,413,121.
nB5b TIL Jewish composer Irving Berlin struggled to pen a Christmas song for the film Holiday Inn. Finally finishing “White Christmas”, he supposedly said “Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it’s the best song anybody ever wrote!” Bing Crosby’s 1947 record is the bestselling single…of ALL TIME.
R7yE1 TIL an unknown black organic material was found preserved on 2 altars at the entrance to a shrine's holy of holies, part of a fortress guarding the southern border of biblical Judah. Testing them found frankincense and cannabis, the first time the latter has been identified in the Ancient Near East.
gM4r8 TIL That southern right whales have some of the largest penises in nature, at a maximum length of four metres (12ft). The penis is coupled with a pair of one-tonne testicles, which produce about a gallon of sperm at capacity.