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TIL distance-running has skyrocketed in popularity 3 times in modern history, each time in the midst of a major crisis: during the Great Depression, in the 1970s during a recession, race riots, assassinations, and Vietnam, and 1 year after 9/11 it became the fastest-growing outdoor sport in the US.

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4XBXg TIL that after the death of Pope Julius II, (the militaristic "warrior pope" who emulated Caesar) the scholar Erasmus wrote a satirical dialogue in which the pope is denied entrance at the gates of heaven, ending with him planning to invade Paradise using the same tactics he applied when alive.
WLpB TIL that the violent crime rate in the US has dropped dramatically in the last few decades, yet the majority of Americans think it’s increasing.
VBOBm TIL: According to information from the California-based Wine Institute, tiny Vatican City consumes more wine per capita than any other country.
n77r TIL in 1966–the same year as “Paint It Black,” “Yellow Submarine,” “Substitute,” “Wild Thing,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “The Sounds of Silence,” and “Hold On, I’m Comin’ ”–Billboard’s #1 song of the year was “The Ballad of the Green Berets.”
Y77pd TIL Cleopatra was not Egyptian but a descendant of a Macedonian dynasty. (part of Greece today)