› added 3 years ago

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TIL that famed American composer Geroge Gershwin started his music career as a department store “song plugger”, playing piano sheet music by-request for potential customers so they could get a preview of the tune before buying it.

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Ryvw TIL that during World War II in Australia, there was a dog whose hearing was so acute that it could warn airforce personnel of incoming Japanese planes 20 minutes before they arrived, and before they showed up on radar. “Gunner” could also differentiate the sounds of allied and enemy aircraft.
9YEw7 TIL of 'Heaven's Gate' (religious group), who had participated in a mass suicide of 39 of its members (a coordinated series of ritual suicides) in order to reach what they believed was an extraterrestrial spacecraft following Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997.
8O84 TIL that in 2008 there was a music festival called ‘Festival of the fuck bands’ where bands such as Fucked Up, Holy Fuck and Fuck buttons performed live. It was held in Fucking, Austria.
M7xYB TIL Matthew Weiner got his job on the The Sopranos because David Chase liked a spec script Weiner wrote, that script would go on to be the pilot for Mad Men.
47B5 TIL: On September 13, 2001, the Queen broke a 600 year tradition, giving permission for the US national anthem to be played at Buckingham Palace during the Changing of the Guard, as a musical tribute to the fallen.