› added 2 months ago

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TIL that the Marvel Comics adaptation of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi was accidentally shipped out to stores a month before the movie was released, and when Mark Hamill, who is a comic book fan, noticed this, he contacted Marvel's sales manager and they tried to get the book off the stands

YMGB TIL in Korea, live baby octopus is served still wriggling on your plate - it is recommended that you chew it thoroughly before swallowing so that the tentacles don’t latch onto your throat while it goes down
kJ16E TIL after the WWII, there was a third government that existed in Korea but it was disbanded and outlawed by both the Soviet Union and the US, with its leader assassinated by a far-right South Korean
d8QB7 TIL Dieter Schwarz, the founder of Lidl, did not want to use his name for the stores due to an association with the German word "Schwarzmarkt" ("black market"). Instead, he had painter Ludwig Lidl sell him the rights to use his name for 1000 DM.
XOZE TIL that Houdini hated psychics & before his death he came up with a code word for his wife. In the event of his death she was supposed to go to as many psychics as possible to see if they could guess the word. None were able, thus proving Houdini’s point.
MedZ7 TIL about the plunge for distance, a short-lived olympic swim event where competitors jumped from the edge of the pool and floated motionless as far as possible. It was criticized as "not an athletic event at all" since competitors "merely throw themselves heavily into the water and float along".