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TIL the Roman Emperor Otho had been a close friend and confidant of Nero and restored his public image and that of their wife Poppea Sabina after he seized power, but personally was ambivalent about being hailed as “Nero Otho” by supporters.

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WkROA TIL Vikram Seth missed the Penguin deadline for submitting his anticipated sequel novel "A Suitable Girl" in 2017 due to suffering from writer's block as a result of the failure of a relationship. As of 2020 the novel was still unfinished
E1V4X TIL that lie detectors are a complete hoax, they don't work at all, but the police still use them. The police are aware that they don't work, but use them to get the defendants to plead guilty.
xXBD TIL that in 1973, after The Who’s drummer Keith Moon passed out on stage, Pete Townshend asked the crowd, ‘Can anybody play the drums…I mean somebody good!’ A fan, Scot Halpin, volunteered to play and proceeded to finish the set.
JryQ TIL China had the equivalent of a Hurricane Katrina every month for 100 years. This totally destabilized the country, and helps explain how one of the largest most sophisticated states in the world collapsed so quickly. They are still recovering from these ecological disasters today.
jNAYX TIL that during his presidency Richard Nixon set up the "Political Enemies Project", with the purpose of compiling a list of people that he didn't like, and "use the available federal machinery to screw them". The list even included celebrities like John Lennon, Bill Cosby and Steve McQueen.