› added 6 years ago

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TIL due to a folk belief that people born in certain years have bad personalities, the birth rate in Japan dropped by 30% from 1965 to 1966, and recovered completely in 1967.

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GAkyg TIL that in 1928, one couple named their child Herbert Hoover Jones in honor of the president. After the Great Depression four years later, they petitioned a court to relieve their son of the mortification "which he is suffering and will suffer" and change his name to Franklin D. Roosevelt Jones
kO8YB TIL of Gail Halvorsen who dropped candy to children of Berlin via parachutes during the Berlin Airlift. He was nicknamed "Uncle Wiggly Wings" & "The chocolate uncle" by those children who wrote him letters.
VBLJB TIL George C. Scott called the Oscars "a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons," and sent a telegram to the Academy telling them that he'd be refusing the award, and didn't even want his name on the ballot.
ag1y TIL in 2008, Brazil made sex change surgeries free under their public health care system, ruling that sexual reassignment surgery was covered under a constitutional clause guaranteeing medical care as a basic right.
69NNm TIL of Armand Gagné, a peasant boy who was adopted by Marie Antoinette. After her carriage almost ran over the 5-year-old, she became so delighted with his appearance that she took him with her. The boy did not want to go and wished to stay with his family but she forcibly adopted him anyway.