› added 8 years ago

90

TIL during WWII, Dutch railroad workers went on strike to undermine the German war effort. In response the Germans blocked food supplies to the country, resulting in a famine that killed over 20,000

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Bj7y TIL when Robert FitzRoy, whom Charles Darwin travelled with around the world and later vehemently opposed to Darwin’s views on evolution, killed himself due to depression and money troubles, Darwin donated a sizable sum to FitzRoy’s widowed family to ensure they would not fall on hard times.
NX89b TIL: Gary Dahl, who invented the pet rock in 1975 came up with the idea at a bar with friends as a joke. He later began selling rocks. Within 2 months he was selling 10k rocks a day within half a year he was a millionaire. His later ideas of "Sand Breeding Kits" and "Red China Dirt" failed.
R70L9 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.
XEd4r TIL when Luciano Pavarotti suddenly fell ill and was unable to sing Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" at the 1998 Grammys, Aretha Franklin filled in for him at “literally a moment’s notice" and sang an acclaimed rendition of the aria
9wVEp TIL that "Project Steve", a list of scientists with the first name Steven/Stephen who support evolution, has 1400 signatures since 2003; it was made in response to a 2001 petition "A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism" collecting signatures of 700 scientists critical of evolution