› added 5 years ago

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TIL Monty Hall was born Monte Halparin. Excluded from medical school due to secret quotas restricting the number of Jewish students, he got a job in broadcasting. His station misspelled and shortened his names, making him Monty Hall. He co-created and hosted "Let's Make a Deal" for almost 30 years.

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9YdYp TIL: Tokyo subway stations installed blue LEDs, shown to improve mood, with hope of reducing suicides. It worked. Suicides at stations with blue lights dropped 84%, without corresponding increases stations without the lights. Note: blue light is good for mood, but bad for sleeping.
VBY8D TIL Agatha Christie sold an estimated 300 million books during her lifetime. Her total earnings are the equivalent of $91 million in today's money. However, due to awful financial planning, upon her death her will left only £106,683.
1aDZP TIL that during the Battle of Boulogne on 23 May 1940, a shell from the British ship HMS Venomous made a German tank turn "over and over, like a child doing a cart-wheel".
b9klp TIL that during the official State opening of the English Parliament by the Queen, a ceremonial hostage politician is delivered to the Lord Chamberlain, to ensure the safe return of the Queen from Parliament. This dates back to time of Charles I in the 1600’s.
XEnLX TIL The Draft Eisenhower movement was the only successful political draft of the 20th century to take a private citizen to the Oval Office. It was a widespread American grassroots political movement that eventually persuaded Dwight D. Eisenhower to run for President.