› added 2 months ago

7

TIL: The Great Chinese Famine was caused when terrified civil servants inflated figures to avoid punishment from the supreme leaders. Estimated deaths: 15 to 45 million.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

QJmL9 TIL Taffy Nivert and Bill Danoff, two of the lead singers for Starland Vocal Band (Afternoon Delight), were writing "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and planned to sell it to Johnny Cash, but during a tour with John Denver the three finished the song, which became Denver's signature hit.
R6y1 TIL of the Octobass, an enormous bowed string instrument that plays notes so low you can see the strings vibrating
D1R0j TIL that when boxer Jack Dempsey wanted to back out of a fight due to his age and his opponents skill, his younger brother took the fight under the same stage name and went on to become the legendary boxer Jack Dempsey.
e9OD TIL that Disney used to cancel TV shows after 65 episode, no matter the ratings.
57rn TIL that there is a sexually transmittable cancer among dogs in which the tumour cells are passed from dog to dog during copulation.