› added 4 years ago

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TIL that many elements of Harry Potter are very similar to a book written 3 years before. The Secret of Platform 13 features a boy of magical lineage who lives with in an abusive house with a spoilt other child, and you get to the magical world through a platform at King's Cross.

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j6Pkp TIL that James Joyce's book "Dubliners" took 9 years to be published, on the stipulation that he wouldn’t receive royalties on the first 500 copies. Though debuted to positive reviews, the book eventually sold exactly 499 copies—one short of Joyce being able to profit from it.
JkE8 TIL: Coyotes have mutualistic hunting relationships with badgers, assisting each other in digging up prey. They are such close friends that some coyotes have been seen laying their heads on their badger companions or licking their faces without protest.
5Yo5n TIL in early 1984 Chrysler was about to introduce the Newport. However, after the dealers have taken first orders for those cars, Chrysler decided to cancel the new model and sell it as the Dodge Diplomat SE instead.
kOZw7 TIL: The tiny island of Ōkunoshima in Japan (otherwise known as Usagi Jima or "Bunny Island"), previously the WWII manufacturing site for thousands of tons of poison gas, is now home to hundreds of feral rabbits and nobody is quite sure where they came from.
KO776 TIL John Denver and his co-writer had never even been to West Virginia when they put out "Country Roads"