› added 6 years ago

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TIL David Prowse, who played (but did not voice) Darth Vader in "Return of the Jedi", has never been paid any residuals from the film, because LucasFilm claims the film never made a profit.

78ra7 TIL about a Madagascan lemur called Aye-aye which has a structurally unique and long middle finger that it uses to pull out grubs and insects out of trees
yVrPw TIL that Sigmund Freud's theories inadvertently sparked a revolution in psychology; his ideas were seen (in many cases) as extremely outlandish and wrong, sparking a lot of psychologists to seek to prove them incorrect and revitalizing the field as a whole.
nem4r TIL of a section of passenger railroad in Alaska call the Hurricane Turn. Rather than making scheduled station stops, it operates as a flag-stop meaning passengers in this remote area can simply wave the train down to stop. It's one of the last true flag-stop trains in the U.S.
kO1jd TIL that in 1974, KFC Japan started selling family sized Christmas dinners including chicken, cake and wine. They became so popular that they now require ordering weeks in advance to prevent waiting in line for hours. They account for about a third of the chain’s yearly sales in Japan.
x6jpD TIL: Renya Mutaguchi is one of Japan's most infamous generals. He acquired 20 days worth of food for the 4 month Battle of Imphal, leading to 55,000 of his 85,000 men to die of starvation before the battle. He suffered a 87% casualty rate and at the funerals, he handed pamphlets claiming he won.