› added 9 years ago

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TIL Steven Spielberg declined to direct the Harry Potter movies because they weren’t challenging, and he thought they should have been animated

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6ERDY TIL Wild tigers never lived in Africa. As part of the Felidae family (lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, jaguars, etc), these cats share a common ancestor that originated from Africa. A common theory is that one branch of this family migrated to Asia nearly 2 million years ago, evolving into tigers.
WkRmo TIL Everytime you shuffle a deck of cards, it is almost guaranteed you create an order of cards that has never existed before. You are literally making history. There are 52! possible combinations, more than there are stars in the visible universe.
d81pZ TIL that the Jeopardy sketch on Saturday Night Live was credited to Norm MacDonald, who in turn credits Eugene Levy for generously sharing the concept from SCTV which Norm watched as a child.
8p94 TIL there was the Soviet equivalent to Eurovision called the Intervision Song Contest. Because of a lack of phones, viewers would turn lights on or off if they liked or didn’t like the song. According to load experienced on the electrical network, points were granted accordingly to each contestant.
oBkmW TIL of Jang Bogo. A Korean peasant who served in China, becoming an abolitionist, and in the 820s formed a powerful private navy of 10,000 men to attack slavers, leading to the Emperor ending slavery. The Nobility hated him and assassinated him when he tried to marry a princess.