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TIL in 1981 Tom Petty voiced his objections when he found out that MCA was going to list his album 'Hard Promises' at $9.98 instead of the usual list price of $8.98. After Petty threatened to name the album 'Eight Ninety Eight' or to even withhold it entirely, MCA decided against raising the price.

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eMdk TIL Alexander Graham Bell committed a social faux pas when he unintentionally touched Queen Victoria’s hand when he demonstrated the telephone for her. Others in the audience gasped in horror but the Queen only noted how impressed she was with the telephone
7G0O TIL: In a circus, “The Stars and Stripes Forever” would be played by the circus band to alert performers to distress and emergencies.
0wRrj TIL the U.S. Congress passed a tax on long distance phone calls to pay for the Spanish-American War (1898). The war ended 4 months later, but the tax remained in place for over 100 years. On August 1, 2006, the IRS announced it would no longer collect the tax.
16rKP TIL that Ken Kirzinger was chosen for the role of Jason in Freddy vs Jason, in part because he was 6ft 5. The directors wanted to emphasise the difference in height between Jason and Freddy (played by a 5ft 9 Robert Englund).
yQ6yX TIL: When merging two lanes of traffic, a zipper merge is recommended because leaving a lane unoccupied as a result of early merging is inefficient. It only makes traffic heavier.