› added 4 years ago

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TIL in an early draft of Lord of the Rings, Frodo was named Bingo Bolger-Baggins

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rRDL0 TIL that scientists made tiny, designer shades for a housefly that fit snugly onto his 2 mm wide head.
KYA9a TIL that in 1963 the Australian Army conducted "Operation Blowdown", in which 50 tons of TNT was detonated to simulate the effects of a nuclear weapon on a tropical rainforest.
kOMjW TIL the allies had plans to assassinate Hitler in 1944, but decided against it because they considered him to be less competent than anyone who might have replaced him (likely Himmler, Bormann, Goebbels, or Goering). He made enough strategic mistakes that it was probably better to keep him around.
1aJpV TIL of Ronald Alexander, who appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to accept a $500,000 donation from Lowes for his crumbling elementary school in Detroit. Months later he and 12 other principals were convicted of taking $900,000 in bribes from a school supply scam.
DQ9ZY TIL of Masabumi Hosono, who was the only Japanese passenger on the Titanic. While he survived, he was severely condemned in the United States and Japan. His account of the sinking of Titanic remains the only document to be written on Titanic stationery