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trifletruffles

TIL Richard M. Daley authorized the midnight bulldozing of Meigs Field, a small, downtown, lakefront airport in Chicago. This stranded 16 planes on the ground including several Fire Department helicopters. The FAA fined the city $33,000 for not giving 30 days notice ahead of an airport closure.

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_znjl4x on December 16, 2022 at 5:06 PM in todayilearned

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TIL in a 2009 episode, Michael Schumacher appeared on BBC's Top Gear as the Stig. Jeremy Clarkson hinted that Schumacher was not the regular Stig which was later confirmed by BBC. Schumacher was there because Ferrari would not allow anyone else to drive the Ferrari FXX featured in the show.

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_zgxz0c on December 9, 2022 at 1:55 PM in todayilearned

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TIL Frank Sinatra was convinced that Johnny Fontane, a singer with mob associations, in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather was based on his life leading Sinatra to shout abuse and threaten physical violence when he met Puzo at a restaurant.

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_zpv93l on December 19, 2022 at 3:55 PM in todayilearned

28 comments

183

TIL Vincent Price published various cookbooks including a five volume series titled Mary and Vincent Price present a National Treasury of Cookery. Price promoted the cookbooks on TV shows including on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson where he demonstrated how to poach a fish in a dishwasher.

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_zmnl94 on December 15, 2022 at 3:18 PM in todayilearned

21 comments

131

TIL boxer Jack Johnson was once pulled over for a $50 speeding ticket and gave the officer a $100 bill. When the officer said he couldn't provide change, Johnson told him to keep it as he was going to make his return trip at the same speed.

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_z8soym on November 30, 2022 at 2:20 PM in todayilearned

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TIL Tom Seaver was named on 425 out of 430 ballots for the Baseball Hall of Fame. 3 were blank as a protest against Pete Rose being ineligible. One was sent by a writer recovering from surgery who did not notice Seaver's name and one never voted for any player in their first year of eligibility.

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_z7z0ft on November 29, 2022 at 4:41 PM in todayilearned

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TIL Willie Mays wore his cap one size larger so it would fly off while running and would also deliberately slip to the ground to make catches look tougher. He stated his flashy style of play began early in his career where he felt his job was to give fans something to talk about each game.

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_yv0zso on November 14, 2022 at 2:28 PM in todayilearned

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TIL Mickey Mantle insisted that promoters of his baseball card show appearances include lesser-known Yankees of his era such as Moose Skowron or Hank Bauer with him so they could also earn money for their autographs.

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_z72ap2 on November 28, 2022 at 5:19 PM in todayilearned

20 comments

883

TIL Billy Joel's 1993 album River of Dreams' cover is a painting by his then-wife Christie Brinkley. Rolling Stone later gave Brinkley the Top Picks award for "The Best Album Cover of the Year."

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_yhida4 on October 30, 2022 at 4:21 PM in todayilearned

21 comments

251

TIL Blondie's music video for the 1981 song Rapture featured Jean-Michel Basquiat as Grandmaster Flash did not show up for the video shoot and Basquiat was hired instead.

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_yiofhy on October 31, 2022 at 8:45 PM in todayilearned

6 comments

142

TIL Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone is widely credited with introducing percussive playing on the electric bass in the 1969 song Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again). He stated that he developed bass slapping in an earlier band in order to compensate for that band's lack of a drummer.

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Submitted by trifletruffles t3_ygitb8 on October 29, 2022 at 12:49 PM in todayilearned

15 comments

222