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TIL Great Britain’s population doubled during the Victorian Era

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gV84 TIL that George Lucas was heavily influenced by Canadian avant-garde filmmakers and borrowed the idea for The Force from the film 21-87 by director Arthur Lipsett (and the # of Leia’s holding cell on the Death Star was…. 2187)
5YDrD TIL The Macarena is a song about a woman cheating on her boyfriend with his two friends while he's being drafted into the military.
oO98 TIL since the 1990s, Carmel, Indiana has been replacing all signaled intersections with roundabouts. Benefits include gas savings of 24k gallons/year per roundabout; construction costs $125,000 less per intersection; injury accidents dropped by 80 percent and total accidents dropped by 40 percent.
xV05B TIL that, when threatened, the yellow-spotted millipede or Harpaphe haydeniana curls up into a ball and exudes hydrogen cianide on its predator, accompanied by the characteristic smell of toasted almonds, being lethal to rodents and birds. It uses chemical warfare on its victims!
x6oM5 TIL Vichy Pastilles were a digestive aid turned confectionery invented in 1825. The Vichy Regime of WW2 used the sweets as propaganda and did not ration them, unlike other foodstuffs. The name of the sweets is known to make some French citizens uneasy.