TIL that Jack Black became addicted to cocaine at age 14, then he found the path to sobriety with special support from a non-judgmental school therapist. Black fell into addiction about four years after his parents, Judith and Thomas, divorced.

TIL that before rising to fame, Shania Twain was singing in bars at age 8 to help pay family bills, often performing until 1 a.m. for tips. After her parents' tragic death in 1987, she became the legal guardian of her younger siblings, putting her career on hold.

TIL in 2002, Eminem had the #1 film at the box office (8 Mile), the #1 album (The Eminem Show), and the #1 single (Lose Yourself) all at the same time.

TIL South African "Pilot" flew with South African Airways for more than 20 years before his lack of credentials were exposed

TIL the Sega Master System (originally released in 1985) is still widely produced and sold in Brazil, largely due to import duties on foreign electronics, wide affordability across all income brackets, and strong nostalgia for many Brazilians who view it as their childhood console

TIL Lust, Caution (2007) directed by Ang Lee is the highest-grossing NC-17 film of all time with a worldwide gross of $67.1 million (on a $15 million budget).

TIL that 100 year old actor, Dick Van Dyke, was 18 when he learned that his parents lied to him about his birth date. He thought he was born in March, but was actually born in December. They lied to him to cover up the fact that he was a love child and was conceived out of wedlock.

TIL Air Bud was an actual dog that played basketball named Buddy, and the first movie starred him and just him.

TIL that ancient Jōmon people in Japan buried their hunting dogs in shell middens around 9,000 yrs ago, placing each dog alone in arranged, curled-up "sleeping" postures much like humans were buried; strong evidence that they were valued hunting companions, not just animals.

TIL - Casio F-91W was the favored watch of Al Qaeda to make IEDs.

TIL 12 desert lions living on the coast in Namibia are the only known lions to hunt marine prey (seals, cormorants, & flamingos). The average home range of a desert lion is around 12,000 sq km (4,600 sq mi), whereas, the typical home range of a lion on the Serengeti is around 100 sq km (39 sq mi).

TIL Jim Bowie, the man behind the Bowie knife, made much of his wealth through slave laundering, forgery, and other crimes

TIL that Millard Fillmore was the last US president to be neither a Democrat nor a Republican

TIL that a study in the UK found that the majority of men over 70 were sexually active

TIL writer Leslie Charteris, creator of “The Saint” was half Chinese and it needed a special act of Congress to allow him to settle in the USA, overriding the Chinese Exclusion Act

TIL Dickens didn't make very much money from early editions of "A Christmas Carol". Though it was a runaway best seller, Dickens was very fastidious about the endpapers and how the book was bound, and the price of materials took a big chunk out of his potential profits.

TIL that for about four months, the most valuable sports card in history was a Mike Trout rookie card, sold for $3.9M in 2020. Prior to that sale, Honus Wagner's iconic T206 had been considered the most valuable card since at least 1933. The record is now held by a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle ($12.6M).

TIL that in 1967, a single-engine Cessna 195 carrying a family of three crashed into the trinity mountains. Though they survived up to two months after the crash, this was before emergency beacon locators was required equipment on planes, the plane was not found for over a year, when they were dead.

TIL Kraft Foods paid for a research study at Rutgers University to confirm that Velveeta cheese had nutritional benefits, and soon after, the American Medical Association gave Velveeta its stamp of approval, citing that the product had all the necessary nutritional value to build "firm flesh."

TIL that the warm water cooling pools at the Miami Nuclear Plant became a prime habitat for the American crocodile to the point they played a major role in bringing the species back from the brink of extinction.

TIL Eddie Murphy's Dad was murdered when Eddie was about 7 years old, and the Vernon he talks about in his stand-up specials was actually his stepdad, Vernon Lynch.

TIL the weird font used at the bottom of checks (called E-13B) is designed with a different amount of ink in each character so that the text can be read magnetically.

TIL that the coca wine was favored by many in the 19th century, including Leo XIII and Thomas Edison

TIL Glenn Danzig (Misfits, Samhain, Danzig) released a cover album of Elvis songs in 2020.

TIL "Emoji" is a registered trademark for many products, and Emoji Co. aggressively enforces it on sites like Amazon