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TIL A monument in Kyoto contains severed noses from 38000 Koreans and 30000 Chinese from a Japanese invasion in the 1590s. No Japanese textbook mentioned it until the 80s, after a publisher resisted pressure from the ministry of education to use a softer tone and praise the invasion leader Hideyoshi

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Z8LkB TIL: While filming the 1925 Ben-Hur the director split Italian extras based on fascist or antifascist factions to make the fighting more realistic. Real swords were removed from the scene to prevent things from getting too out of hand
V4wm TIL there used to be an “Office of Technology Assessment” in charge of providing Congress with unbiased analysis of scientific issues, but it was closed down as part of the Republicans’ “Contract With America in 1995.
d8G9r TIL that Chris Farley was initially cast to voice Shrek early in the films production. Feeling that completing the film with his voice after his untimely death would be in bad taste, the filmmakers opted to have his dialogue redone by Mike Myers. This is the only reel with his voice shown publicly.
l76K TIL during a college football game in 1951, a white Oklahoma A&M player continually assaulted a black player from Drake named Johnny Bright. Bright was knocked unconscious 3 times and suffered a broken jaw, but still managed to throw a 61-yard touchdown pass before having to leave the game.
wE8Y TIL Volkswagen was sued by Czechoslovakian car maker Tatra before WWII because the original Beetle was so similar to the Tatra T97. After Germany invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938 the lawsuit was cancelled by the Nazis