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TIL that in 1862, German orientalist Martin Haug proposed a radical reinterpretation of what he believed to be the original teachings of the Zoroastrian religion. When actual Zoroastrians read his arguments, they were convinced, and adjusted their own doctrines in response.

rNM4x TIL that Robert De Niro originally auditioned for the role of Sonny in The Godfather, but lost the part to James Caan. De Niro later went on to win an Oscar for playing young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II.
Eg8bX TIL that the phrase Under Pressure comes from “peine forte et dure”, a 13th century practice that entailed pressing an accused with heavy weights until they agreed to enter a plea. At the time, rather than plead guilty or innocent to charges you could stand mute in the face of accusations
N7l1b TIL. Children in Iceland are not allowed to have names with the letter "C" in them. All names must conform to rules of Icelandic language, which does not have the letter "C"
epV7E TIL On the soundtrack to Batman Begins, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard named all the tracks after the scientific names of Bats and Tracks 4 - 9 Barbastella, Artibeus, Tadarida, Macrotus, Antrozous, and Nycterus, spell out BATMAN.
MKgb TIL: in 1985 Father-In-Law of Howard Schultz sat him down to say “My daughter’s 7 months pregnant and it’s time her husband forgot his hobby and got a real job.” When Howard told his wife she said “No, we’re going to do it.” In 1986 the Schultz’s opened their 1st coffee bar and called it Starbucks