› added 1 year ago

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TIL about the Shahnameh (The Book of Kings) an epic poem of 50k couplets considered to be the touchstone of Persian (Iranian) culture.

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p8R1N TIL A monkey bite killed the King of Greece, destabilizing the government, and resulting in a massive loss of life and territory to the Turks. Churchill said it was no exaggeration that the monkey bite led to 250,000 deaths.
BwPx TIL The Black Marlin is the fastest animal in the world, exceeding the top speed of any land animal or bird in horizontal flight.
NX0mP TIL the 1958 Disney nature film White Wilderness staged a lemming death plunge, pushing dozens of lemmings off a cliff while cameras were rolling. This perpetuated the myth that lemmings commit mass-suicide for years to come.
nWNwo TIL The Fairey Swordfish biplane was considered out of date by 1939 but was effective throughout WW2. Swordfish sunk more enemy tonnage than any other plane, sunk numerous U-boats, disabled the Bismarck, and remained in use into 1945.
LkekZ TIL that Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr have all made separate special guest voice appearances, as themselves, in episodes of The Simpsons. Of the "Fab Four", the only Beatle to never make an appearance is John Lennon, who was murdered in 1980, nine years before the show started.