› added 11 years ago

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TIL David Prowse (Darth Vader) was offered one of two roles in Star Wars by George Lucas. The first was Chewbacca. The second was the villain. Before Lucas had a chance to explain the role, Prowse accepted it. Why? Because according to him people never forget the villain.

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kDd TIL American troops committed over 10,000 rapes in the space of just three months during the occupation of Japan
R7by4 TIL of the New Zealand Black Robin that went from extinct to threatened after scientists found 6 males and 1 female on a rocky island isolated from introduced predatory species. today there are hundreds of Black Robins.
8aLYK TIL that the Northern Royal Albatross take their first flight after about 8 months of age, and then spend the next 3-5 years at sea, never touching land during that time. Many then return to their headland where they born so they can then breed, having flown over 190,000km per year during that time.
Oor0L TIL A 2014 linguistics study on filler words found that women use “um” ~22% more than men, men say “uh” 250% more than women, & men use filler words ~38% more than women. When speaking to the opposite gender, men use “uh” ~14% less & “um” ~8% more, while women use “uh” ~20% more & “um” ~1% less.
v108L TIL: 20 years ago, DotComGuy (Mitch Maddox) in a promotion for Internet companies, changed his name to DotComGuy and was paid to live the entire year of 2000 in his house in Dallas, Texas, buying all food and necessities online. Video from the house was streamed 24 hours a day on the DotComGuy.com