› added 2 years ago

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TIL that there is no dog alive from the 20th century

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via reddit.com

XEelE TIL That John Chrysostomos is one of the people responsible for interpreting Sodom as a place of sodomy, instead of just a place of inhospitatality, which was the traditional interpretation before him.
v4vL TIL that in 1254 C.E. the Mongol Khan organized a formal religious debate between teams of Christians, Muslims, & Buddhists. The debate went on for multiple rounds on a variety of theological topics until the participants became so drunk that it concluded without any clear winner.
ADny4 TIL the real-life inspiration for "The Americans" was not Cold War spies, but 10 Russian deep-cover agents captured in 2010; but the show creator was unimpressed by the public's lukewarm reaction to the case, and figured the story would make for better TV if set in the Cold War.
4kgwa TIL Alan Menken, the composer who relaunched Disney's fortunes with hit songs, once dreamt of being a singer-songwriter in the Bob Dylan mode and hated that his soundtracks were associated with cartoons for children. His works with Disney later made him win more Oscars than any living person.
gwvD TIL of Mariya Oktyabrskaya, who’s husband died in WW2 so she sold all of her belongings and built a tank “The Angry Girlfriend” for revenge. She became the first female tanker to ever win the Hero of the Soviet Union award