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TIL the phrase "Merry Christmas" become popular due to Charles Dickins "A Christmas Carol"

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QNMX9 TIL that a politician from the United Kingdom, John Bell, believed that he was a bird, stating that he could fly much better than a bird, because he kept his shoulders oiled. Despite his state of mind, he remained a Member of Parliament until his death in 1851.
7M5O TIL After working with Tom Cruise on the movie Collateral, Jada Pinkett, together with her husband Will Smith, donated $20.000 to a scientology homeschooling program and funded a scientology-affiliated private elementary school.
D7ED TIL Aribert Heim, aka Dr. Death because of the horrific experiments he performed on Jews during the Holocaust, evaded capture be escaping Germany and converting to Islam, living in Egypt under the name Tarek Hussein Farid until his death in 1992.
yBBv TIL Robert Todd Lincoln was present, or near, 3 different presidential assassinations which prompted him to refuse a later presidential invitation with the comment “No, I’m not going, and they’d better not ask me, because there is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present.”
OoXVa TIL that alcohol is the most dangerous drug to withdrawal from, that hundreds die every year attempting to quit cold-turkey, and that despite this, Alcoholics Anonymous actively discourages people from using any kind of medical intervention.