› added 5 years ago

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TIL Disney changed the name of their project "Basil of Baker Street" to The Great Mouse Detective", causing Disney animators to pass around a joke memo blandly renaming old Disney classics. It reached the CEO of Disney, who was furious and demanded to know who wrote the memo. No one squealed.

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gMjXL TIL that there's a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for possession of 500g of powdered cocaine, but only 28g of crack, despite being pharmacologically similar. Crack is used more by black Americans, while cocaine is used more by white ones.
W77R8 TIL that mud daubers sting spiders and stuff them in the mud nest for the baby daubers to eat
5YRbD TIL that Colgate toothpaste launched a line of TV dinners in the 80s that failed spectacularly.
evrL TIL the myth that carrots improve night vision was started on purpose in WII as an explanation for why german planes kept getting shot down at night. In reality, radar had just been invented.
ne7LW TIL at least 15 species and genera have been named in Sir David Attenborough's honour. In 2018, a new species of phytoplankton was named after the Blue Planet documentary, which Attenborough narrated.