› added 7 years ago

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TIL That for his film roll, James Earl Jones was offered compensation of either $7,000, or a small equity share in the franchise. Being broke at the time, he took the cash, and passed up on tens of millions of Star Wars' profits.

KDV4 TIL that suburban neighborhoods were made to prevent people of being Communists. William Levitt, father of modern American suburbia declared: “No one who owns his own house and lot can be a Communist. He has too much to do.”
4kRBR TIL until 2001 workers at Disneyland had to wear "communal underwear" while in character because normal undies would bunch up and become visible. After several outbreaks of pubic lice, the performers got the Teamsters Union involved and Disney finally agreed to employees wearing their own underpants
a8kwA TIL During a period of 10 months in 1898, a pair of Lions killed 135 railway workers in Kenya and became known as the 'Tsavo Man Eaters'. During the hunt, one lion had to be shot 9 times. They both became the floor rugs of the hunter until sold to a Natural History Museum.
gOv8 TIL that, in Switzerland, it is legal to downloaded pirated movies/music for private use. They even conducted a study and found piracy does not affect sales.
lom05 TIL that Helmut Kentler, a German psychologist fostered neglected children with pedophiles in an experiment with government support for decades. By the time his victims came forward, the statute of limitations for his actions had expired leaving his victims without justice or compensation.