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TIL the director of the film version of MAS*H wanted the "stupidest song ever written", named "Suicide Is Painless", for the film. His 14-year-old son wrote it in five minutes and made over a million dollars in royalties.

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yEnw TIL A soldier once returned from deployment to find his wife had died and his young children had starved to death.
loEg1 TIL that a North Korean teen who was chosen to go to the International Mathematical Olympiad used it to escape North Korea and start a new life.
VZJp TIL The song “I Want It That Way” by The Backstreet Boys, which went #1 in 25 countries, has lyrics that don’t make sense because Max Martin, who wrote the song, was still learning English at the time. Kevin Richardson, member of the band, said “Ultimately, the song doesn’t really make much sense.”
jamM TIL that President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou both spoke fluent Mandarin Chinese. They communicated in the language whenever they wanted to keep their conversations private around guests and the press.
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