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TIL that the first use of the phrase "son-of-a-bitch" in American literature was in the 1823 book "Seventy-Six" by John Neal about the American Revolutionary War. Seventy-Six was criticized at the time for its use of profanity and was noted for its use of colloquialisms.

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X0B4D TIL that the Burger King chain is not allowed to use the name Burger King in Mattoon, Illinois, because there is a restaurant there that already protected the name as a “state trademark” in 1959 and defended it in court against BK.
ADvg4 TIL that Bakersfield and Fresno were built on top of a former lake, Lake Tulare, that was the largest freshwater lake west of the Missisipi. It was drained for Agriculture after the Civil War, and was completely gone by WW1.
XXrX TIL of Dr. Hawley Crippen, an unfaithful husband who was executed in 1910 for the murder of his wife Cora, after parts of a decomposed body were found in his cellar. Crippen claimed she had left him for another man and moved away. In 2007, DNA evidence indicated that the body was not Cora’s.
0dZK1 TIL The US military dumped thousands of vehicles into the Pacific Ocean following the end of WW2. One of the sites has become a popular diving destination known as Million Dollar Point.
8a1VL TIL the underground quarries of Paris, which house the city’s catacombs, were once used as a mushroom farm, as they allowed better cultivation all year round. By 1880, up to 300 mushroom farmers produced more than 1000 tons each year.