› added 12 years ago

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TIL Pepsi sparked riots in the Philippines after it sponsored a million-peso contest and announced the wrong winning number, which resulted in 80,000 people thinking they’d won the jackpot. The backlash was so widespread that it united members of warring factions against Pepsi.

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1a79W TIL that when the deadliest tornado touched down in 1925 Missouri, people were taken by surprise. This was because the word 'tornado' was banned from US weather forecasts since the late 19th century due to hysteria. This mentality shifted after the tornado killed 675 ill-prepared residents
ePXb TIL that as the Titanic sank, someone unlocked the kennels holding all the passengers’ pet dogs, “leading to the surreal sight of a pack of excited dogs racing up and down the slanting deck as the ship went down.”
LkXDm Red seatbelt buttons—you see them in every car, including iced-out swankmobiles like Mercedes S-Classes and Bentley Continentals. That’s because they’re required by safety regulations. But Tesla has black, white and tan ones. Here’s why they can do it.
OGg6Y TIL Lego almost went bankrupt in the 1990s but was saved in part by the unexpected success of Bionicle.
7rWoZ TIL: Johnny Appleseed wasn't spreading delicious apple, he was spreading apple cider booze.