› added 10 years ago

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TIL that the Catholic Church allows eating beaver meat during lent.

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LGmQ TIL Ed Smith created a fake student called George Burdell when Georgia Tech sent him two enrolment forms by mistake. He signed Burdell up for all his classes and did all his work twice with minor changes so teachers wouldn’t catch him. The school awarded Burdell a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.
m1Wey TIL that patriarchal surnames were uncommon in pre-Norman England
DQLYp TIL after contacting the Advertising Standards Authority, a New Zealand man was offered a refund by Paramount. He complained that a scene of a cliff exploding, shown in the preview for Jack Reacher, was not in the film and that this scene, and Tom Cruise, was the main reason for him seeing the movie
j6Xxv TIL that German soldier Alfred Liskow defected to the Soviets the day before Operation Barbarossa to warn them of Germany's imminent invasion, only to be arrested by the NKVD for spreading "disinformation."
KYbYE TIL that in 1957, "Babycham" was the first alcoholic product to be advertised on British commercial television. The drink is a sparkling alcoholic cider made from pears, and was marketed as a "genuine champagne perry".