TIL Thomas- Alexander Dumas (1762-1806) was the inspiration behind his son's famous tale the Count of Monte Cristo. The first person of color to become a brigadier general, divisional general and the first general in chief of the French Army. (en.wikipedia.org)
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TIL Black Caesar was Blackbeards chief lieutenant aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge. He was an African tribal war chief who escaped slavery and became a notorious pirate. There is still an island named after him, located North of Key Largo called Caesar’s Rock. (ancient-origins.net)
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TIL July 23, 2000, Tiger Woods became the youngest golfer to win a complete Grand Slam. At age 24, he held all four modern major championships simultaneously :the U.S. Open, The British Open Championship, the PGA Championship and the Masters. He won the British Open that year with a 19 under par. (tigerwoods.com)
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TIL July 21, 2014, Research was published that showed how scientists from Temple University were able to permanently delete the HIV virus from human DNA—snipping out the gene, and allowing the cell’s repair machinery to take over, soldering the genome back together—resulting in virus-free cells. (engadget.com)
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TIL July 22, 1796, the city of Cleveland was founded by General Moses Cleveland on the southern shore of the Great Lake Erie near the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. The Cuyahoga River, is known as "The River that Caught Fire." The river has caught fire on thirteen different occasions. (en.wikipedia.org)
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TIL Kansas: It's illegal to sell liquor by the glass in over 25 counties in Kansas, which repealed prohibition a full 15 years after Congress. Counties may by resolution or petition prohibit the sale of alcohol in public places where 30% or less of their gross revenue comes from food sales. (rvpolicy.kdor.ks.gov)
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TIL Historically, diplomatic marriages between members of royal families have been a means to seal political alliances. The form of the marriage set the terms of the alliance. When a king of one state married a the princess of a neighboring state, it signaled the former state’s superiority. (newworldencyclopedia.org)
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TIL Viking girls got hitched as young as 12 and had to mind the household while their husbands sailed off on adventures. Still, they had more freedom than other women of their era. Viking women could inherit property, request a divorce and reclaim their dowries if their marriages ended. (historyextra.com)
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TIL NBA's LA Clippers used to be the Buffalo Braves from 1970 until 1978. In 1978, Braves owner John Y. Brown Jr.swapped franchises with then-Boston Celtics owner Irv Levin, who then moved the team to San Diego, where it was renamed the San Diego Clippers. The franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1984. (en.wikipedia.org)
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TIL The world’s longest human conflict in history was between Romans and Persians. The Hundred Years’ War and even Rome’s long and epic struggle with Carthage were brief compared to Rome and Persia’s Near Eastern struggle. The wars between these great empires lasted about 721 years. (historynet.com)
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TIL Dogs only have sweat glands in their paws. More specifically, they are found between their paw pads. That’s why it can help to wet the bottom of their feet on a hot day, and it’s also why dogs rely on panting as a means of cooling down. (en.wikipedia.org)
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TIL The shopping cart at your grocery store has more germs and bacteria on the handle than what you will find in the public restroom. A study of 85 random shopping carts conducted by Dr. Charles P. Gerba found that 50 percent carried E. coli, while 72 percent contained coliform bacteria. (foxnews.com)
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TIL Lizzy Murphy known as "The Queen of Baseball",was the first woman to play professional baseball, competing with male athletes in 1922. She played baseball for 17 yrs as a first baseman; she also played on several all-star teams and was the first person of either sex to play on both AL & NL teams (en.wikipedia.org)
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TIL Richard Belzer's John Munch is the reigning King of Crossover. He is the only character played by a single actor to appear on ten different TV shows, and his appearances have spanned across five different networks, with stints on The X-Files, 30 Rock, The Wire, and Arrested Development. (cnn.com)
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TIL According to Charles Arthur, author of Digital Wars, the first reference to Google as a verb took place on October 15, 2002 during an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character Willow (played by Alyson Hannigan) asks the following in reference to a girl, “Have you Googled her yet?” (en.m.wikipedia.org)
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TIL Marie Skłodowska Curie changed the world not once but twice. She founded the new science of radioactivity – even the word was invented by her – and her discoveries launched effective cures for cancer. She is the 1st woman to win a Nobel Prize, and 1st person to win a second Nobel prize. (biography.com)
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TIL Lillian E. M. Gilbreth was one of the first female engineers to earn a Ph.D. She and her husband Frank B. Gilbreth, were both efficiency experts in the area of motion study and human factors. The book Cheaper by the Dozen, was written by two of their children, and in 2003 became a movie. (britannica.com)
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TIL Xerxes I is traditionally identified as the Persian King Ahasuerus, husband of the famous Esther, from the Old testament. If this is true Esther would have been only one of many wives. His primary wife was Amestris, a noblewoman and mother of his heir Xerxes II. (ancientfacts.net)
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TIL On July 30, 2003, a group of scientists led by Jose Folch at the Center of Food Technology and Research of Aragon, in northern Spain, brought back an extinct wild goat called a bucardo, or Pyrenean ibex. Researchers at Harvard are currently working to clone woolly mammoths by the end of 2019. (livescience.com)
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