› added 5 years ago

63

TIL that New Zealand was home to a 12-foot-tall species of bird known as the "giant moa." They were wiped around 1500 AD after settlers found the island and hunted them for food.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

gaYA TIL - Govt spends billions on subsidies to tobacco farmers, at the same time spending billions on anti-smoking campaigns
7rMoM TIL the influenza epidemic of 1918 was called the “Spanish Flu” because Spain was neutral during World War I and was the only country with a free press able to report on the disease. People just assumed the flu, which killed more people than WWI, began in Spain, but it’s unknown where it started.
rJ1x TIL that “Where the Wild Things Are” was originally titled “Land of the Wild Horses” until the author Maurice Sendak realized that he couldn’t draw horses and changed the name.
VQ44 TIL George Lucas allowed the band members of ‘N SYNC to make a cameo appearance in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones in order to appease his daughters. The footage was then cut out of the final version of the film.
BMkr TIL In addition to eliminating Jews, the Nazis also planned to reduce the population of the conquered territories by 30 million people through starvation in an action called the Hunger Plan