› added 11 years ago

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TIL that Harry Potter books were translated from British to American English.

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via reddit.com

d8077 TIL that Coca-Cola's Robert Goizueta was the first person to become a billionaire by being an employee and not a company founder (or heir).
lWoG TIL that the hoatzin is the last surviving species of a line of birds that diverged from all other birds 64 million years ago, just after the dinosaur extinction event, and that hoatzin chicks have claws on their wings
WDw9 TIL that when German engineers were developing the MP3 file format, they used Suzanne Vega’s a capella song “Tom’s Diner” to test their creation, checking for loss of fidelity. She is now unofficially known as the “Mother of The MP3”
OGJm6 TIL about the 2010 Filair Let L-410 crash, caused by a crocodile that was smuggled on board. It got loose and caused a panic, affecting the weight of the aircraft as all on board ran towards the cockpit. The croc survived the crash (along with one person) but was killed by a machete shortly after
xVWa7 TIL about the only instrumental song to have been banned by radio stations in the United States: "Rumble" by Link Wray & His Ray Men.