› added 4 months ago

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TIL that Genghis Khan strategically married his daughters to allied kings, sending the sons-in-law to fight in Mongol campaigns. As many of them died in battle, his daughters took control, effectively ruling those nations.

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eWWk TIL that a two toed sloth in 2001 was discovered hanging under a field research team’s latrine, scooping up the mixture of feces, urine and toilet paper and eating it.
VB6eG TIL of the "Mondegreen" phenomenon: A mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. It was coined in 1954 when the words "laid him on the green" were misinterpreted as "Lady Mondegreen".
MePWa TIL Radio Caledonia was a Nazi run WW2 propaganda station that aired in Scotland 1940-1942. Broadcast from Germany, Goebbels hoped it would turn listening Scots against the English. The message that Scotland would be vastly preferable to "an England run by a war-mongering Churchill" didn't fly,
5YA4k TIL that when Michael Jackson granted Weird Al Yankovic permission to do "Fat" (a parody of "Bad"), Jackson allowed him to use the same set built for his own "Badder" video from the Moonwalker film. Yankovic said that Jackson's support helped to gain approval from other artists he wanted to parody.
wLGx8 TIL Ernest Hemmingway was gifted a 6-toed cat named Snow White. Snow White's 40-50 descendants still live at his Florida home. Over half of them also have 6 toes.