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TIL M&M’s turned down the opportunity to be featured in Steven Spielberg’s movie ET due to the flop of his previous film 1941, Spielberg then contacted a struggling Hershey’s who put $1 million into promoting the film - Within two weeks of release Hershey’s had tripled their sales.

Read more money.howstuffworks.com

via reddit.com

l7lo7 TIL about Absalom Boston who in 1822 became the first African-American to captain and sail a whaleship with an all black crew
Byyr TIL that the phrase “I do not agree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it”, the most quoted line in relation to freedom of speech, was misattributed to Voltaire because Evelyn Hall, in her biography of Voltaire’s life, used her own words to sum up his beliefs
d8Em7 TIL the Kublai Khan invaded Japan in 1274 with 33,000 troops but failed due to weather. Kublai Khan again invaded Japan in 1279 with 140,000 troops & made it 15 km away from the city of Fukuoka but again failed due to a typhoon. It was here the term kamikaze (divine wind) was born.
m1Y4x TIL that through much of the history of agriculture, threshing was time-consuming and laborious. Until the late 18th century, before threshing was mechanized, about one-quarter of agricultural labor was devoted to it.
N5ke TIL common rocks and hardened clays can trap electrons in quantum pockets for thousands of years and release those electrons when reheated giving off light that can be used to date the rocks-( Thermoluminescence dating).