› added 13 years ago

238

TIL Volkswagen used to award savings bonds to babies born in beetles.

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VMXw0 TIL that it takes roughly 150 flowers to yield 1 gram (0.035 oz) of dry saffron threads.
GAlrQ TIL that in December 1942 during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ended all voluntary enlistment into the U.S. military by men aged 18 to 37 to provide for more efficient allocation of the nation’s manpower through the draft
jVOR TIL Rather than use the marketing budget on ads for Total War-Rome, the game developers hired a group to create (entertaining) Youtube videos about the Punic Wars and Roman History. And, they suggested this group not mention or market the game, “Just teach history”.
EAxd TIL that the 1995 Bjork song “It’s Oh So Quiet” is a remake of an obscure B-side from 1951 — which itself was a remake of a French song from 1949 (“Tout est Tranquille”) — which itself was a remake of the original German song, “Und Jetzt ist es Still” from 1948. It’s a cover of a cover of a cover.
p87kN TIL that, in the 1980's, Israel operated a beach resort in Sudan, which was actually a Mossad front allowing them to evacuate Sudanese and Ethiopian Jews to Israel.