› added 3 years ago

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TIL that Beethoven's 5th became known as the victory symphony because of the allied forces "V for victory" slogan during WW2. After noticing that the first four notes of the symphony sound like the morse code for the letter V, the BBC played that motif on the timpani before every wartime broadcast.

v1Yxx TIL of the 'Centre of the Universe' in Tulsa- If you stand in the middle of the circle and make a noise, the sound is echoed back several times louder than it was made. Those outside the circle hear the same sound but distorted.
NXQLM TIL Chocolate sheet cakes and mixes, and the nominally-chocolate dark wafers in Oreos, taste so different than other common chocolate foods because they use black cocoa. Black cocoa is created by a different process than natural or Dutch-processed cocoa, which results in a very unique taste.
4kLV6 TIL European rabbits are our most destructive invasive species in Australia. They impact over 300 threatened native species and even boost the number of predators like cats and foxes.
gMAny TIL Butter chicken was developed in the 1950s by three Punjabi restaurateurs who made it "by chance" by mixing the leftover chicken in a tomato gravy, rich in butter and cream. The dish is India's most popular curry, not only domestically but also globally
pYxjO TIL at the 2005 London Marathon, Paula Radcliffe, in desperate need of a toilet break during the race, stopped by the roadside in full view of the crowd and live TV cameras to defecate. She still won with a time of 2:17:42, a world's best time for a women's only race by over a minute at the time.