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TIL in 1982, Universal Studios sued Nintendo on the grounds that Donkey Kong was an exact copy of Universal-alleged owned King Kong. The judge ruled that Universal acted in bad faith by threatening Nintendo’s licensees and it had no right over King Kong due to being in public domain.

dDW19 TIL The Beatles opened for Little Richard before they had a record deal, The Rolling Stones opened for him as unknowns, Jimi Hendrix started in his band, and James Brown's big break was as a Little Richard impersonator playing shows Little Richard couldn't attend.
6EyXm TIL there was 128,000 square kilometres (49,000 sq mi; 32,000,000 acres) of irrigated lawn in the US, three times the area of irrigated corn
oojE TIL a 25 year old contestant on the French version of Survivor died during the first competition on the first day. A week later, the staff doctor of the show killed himself. His suicide note claimed the media was making unjust accusations and assumptions about him.
VMvZ4 TIL one of the founders of The Church of Jediism was removed from a Tesco supermarket in North Wales for refusing to remove his hood on a religious basis. The owner justified Jones's ejection by saying, "Jedis are very welcome to shop in our stores although we would ask them to remove their hoods."
eJ7J TIL in 2010 the RIKEN institute in Japan created mutant cherry blossom trees by firing ion beams at them in a particle accelerator. The mutated trees now bloom 4 times a year and produce more flowers.