› added 6 years ago

71

TIL that 1 out of every 160 New Zealanders were involved in the production of the Lord of the Rings franchise.

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via reddit.com

5Ybvp TIL Spaghetti Westerns are named for being primarily produced by Italians. In Japan, they're called "Macaroni Westerns."
YOEr TIL tomatoes are from America and weren’t introduced in Italy until the 1540s.
6Erow TIL In ancient Greece, an “idiot” was anyone who didn’t participate in political or public arenas. It comes from the word idios, meaning “self” or a selfish person who ignored political debate and didn’t participate in politics. As the word implies, it was someone who was “separated from the whole.”
yVA58 TIL that tuberculosis was first brought to the Americas by seals that contracted it on beaches of Africa and carried it across the Atlantic around 1,000 years ago. In South America, it was likely contracted first by hunters who handled contaminated meat.
loeR5 TIL that in 1958, Chairman Mao ordered the killing of all sparrows since they threatened crops. It backfired, since the near-extinction of the sparrows lead to more bugs eating crops. This resulted in the deaths of forty-five million people.