› added 12 years ago

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TIL that after Rep. Paul Broun made comments saying that evolution, the Big Bang, and embryology were “straight from the Pit of Hell”, 4000 people in his district voted for Charles Darwin as a write-in.

VB4Rp TIL that during WWI (and briefly WWII) the British would shame men into joining the military by recruiting young women to call them cowards on the streets of their hometowns. These women would also pin a white feather on them to symbolize their cowardice.
9wWMD TIL Radiohead seventh studio album In Rainbows was released under a pay-what-you-want model, in which fans could pay the price they desired, including downloading the entire album for free. Many customers in turned paid and they gained more profits because of this marketing strategy.
GALGJ TIL that Tarrare, a man living in the 18th century, had a bizarre endless appetite. He ate a meal made for 15 people in one sitting, live puppies, cats and snakes and it got so bad while hospitalised he attempted to eat corpses from the morgue, patient's blood and a suspected one year old toddler
XErgE TIL After the War of the Worlds broadcast a similar stunt was tried in a Ecuador. Once listeners realized it was a hoax they they surrounded the radio station and burned it down with around 100 people inside. Survivors leapt out of windows but 6-20 people died.
QxKe TIL That Theodore Roosevelt’s son, Theodore Roosevelt Jr, was the only General involved in the initial assault on D-Day, after insisting to his superiors that he be one of the first ones off the boats. He survived the battle but died of a heart attack one month later.