› added 9 years ago

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TIL that. in the US, the “we’ll be back after these messages” often seen during kid shows of the ‘70s, '80s, and '90s were mandated by the FCC to help children differentiate between the TV show and commercials.

Y7GVZ TIL David Letterman once insulted Quentin Tarantino on his show, which made Tarantino call Letterman on the phone and threaten to come to NY to “kill” him. Letterman responded by offering to pay for his flight and have QT choose the method of battle. Tarantino agreed and chose “bats.”
Y677 TIL there were no red M&Ms for over a decade because a common red food coloring was found to cause cancer. M&Ms never contained the cancer causing FD&C Red No. 2, but Mars still pulled all their red candies to avoid consumer confusion.
vPGr8 TIL Yao Tongbin, one of China's foremost missile scientists, died after a young engineer overthrew the leadership of the research institution where he worked at, resulting in a literal armed conflict between administrative staff/workers with scientists/engineers, during which Yao was beaten to death
9YQp7 TIL Oxford Deans called their Head Woodsman noticing decaying oak beams built in 1460 to see if there was any oak to replace them. He said "We've been waiting for you to ask about that" - A grove of oak trees was planted with the specific purpose of replacing them hundreds of years later.
1aMNO TIL the majority of Icelanders either believe in elves or are unwilling to rule out their existence