› added 5 years ago

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TIL smoking causes one out of every five deaths in the United States, killing more people than alcohol, car accidents, HIV, guns, and illegal drugs COMBINED.

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via reddit.com

nWnxY TIL that in 1963, the song “Ue o Muite Aruko” became the first Japanese-language song to top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The song was written to express frustration at American military bases being allowed to remain in Japan.
VMYy4 TIL Nayirah testimony in which a girl claimed to have seen babies taken out of incubators by Iraqi invaders was a propaganda stunt made to recieve public support for USA’s participation in the Gulf War.
9b0M TIL Strom Thurmond holds the record for the longest filibuster by a lone senator, at 24 hours and 18 minutes. He was opposing the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He also later opposed ending segregation.
rgjo TIL when Richard III’s remains were discovered, while the maternal DNA was matched to a known descendant of his sister, his paternal DNA did not match his (supposed) modern relatives.
WKvB TIL: Banana flavored candy tastes that way because that’s how bananas tasted until the 1960s, when a fungus wiped out that strain of bananas. Today another fungus threatens the strain of bananas we eat.