› added 4 years ago

199

TIL that J.R.R. Tolkien considered a sequel to the LOTR trilogy called The New Shadow. Set 100 years later during the Age of Man, he quickly abandoned the idea because “it proved both sinister and depressing.”

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BgVPr TIL in 2024(today) steam boat willie got released to the public domain
epkM4 TIL that the arbitrary decision decades ago about the heights of high hurdles and distance between the hurdles created a small band of heights of males that could actually compete at a high level in the event. The women's hurdles are shorter relative to their height, and don't have the same effect.
K1pa TIL: Of the 7,377 Lancaster Bombers built, only 2 remain.
Kxy6 TIL in 1962, investor Warren Buffett agreed to selling shares of a failing company for $11.50 per share. The tender offer was for only $11.375, so Buffett decided to buy more stock, took control of the company and fired the man who made the offer.
m1mPM TIL an artist created 90 pieces of artwork which are just cans of his feces. The most recent sale for one of the cans was about $291,000 usd. I learned this on QI.