› added 5 years ago

93

TIL the short-lived Dana Carvey Show had different sponsors each episode. As the ratings tanked, sponsors pulled out. The 1st episode was Taco Bell, the 4th was Diet Mug Root Beer, & the 6th was Szechuan Dynasty, a nearby Chinese restaurant. It was canceled after #7 (no sponsor)

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

nQQW TIL there’s a bridge in Scotland from which dogs frequently leap to their deaths, and no one knows why.
rNXD4 TIL that the WWII submarine USS Tang sank two Japanese freighters in 1944 and was then sunk by one of her own torpedoes. Of the 78-man crew, nine survived and were rescued by the same Japanese frigate that had rescued sailors from the freighters the Tang had sunk the night before.
4kK8b TIL that preflight checklists were introduced after a 1935 crash of a prototype B-17 which resulted in the deaths of both pilots. Investigation found that the pilots forgot to disengage the gust locks prior to take off.
OoOB4 TIL that David Blair was originally assigned as the Second Officer on the Titanic, but due to a change just before the sailing, was not on the crew. In his quick departure, he accidentally kept a key to a locker containing binoculars, thus preventing the crew from using them to help spot icebergs.
LkgNv TIL at the Teheran Conference, Stalin proposed executing 50,000–100,000 German officers. Roosevelt, believing Stalin was not serious, joked that "maybe 49,000 would be enough". Churchill ended up storming out of the room and did not come back until Stalin claimed that the proposal was a joke indeed.