› added 8 years ago

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TIL that Harpo (Arthur/Adolph) Marx is actually considered one of the greatest and most influential harpists in history, in spite of his unconventional playing style and never having learned to read music.

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j51p TIL A Finnish food company was forced to rebrand its line of meatballs, as they did not contain enough meat. They are now known simply as ‘balls’.
Kavw TIL That a friendly exchange between an American and Chinese player in the 1971 World Ping-Pong Championship prompted Mao Zedong to invite the American table-tennis to China, helping re-open Sino-American relations for the first time since the cold war.
boG4 TIL in 1959, a white author underwent skin treatments to appear African-American, hitchhiked around the Pre-Civil Rights South to experience hatred and racism firsthand, then wrote a bestselling book about it.
4XX0w TIL During the Little Ice Age, the Thames River would freeze over so severely during the winter months, Londoners would come together and have celebratory fairs (open markets) on the ice, the first recorded in 1608.
KOo5B TIL of the “Kentucky bend”, 17 square miles of the state separated from the rest of the state and its county seat by Missouri, and only accessible by driving through Tennessee.