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TIL: Mavis Beacon is a fictional character named after the singer Mavis Staples

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kJJMg TIL that by 1935 the life expectancy of an S&P 500 company was 90 years. By 2010, it was only 14 years and shrinking
Z8a8v TIL In 2006, China slaughtered 50,000 dogs after three people died of rabies. Dogs being walked were seized from their owners and beaten to death on the spot. Owners were offered 63 cents per animal to kill their own dogs before the beating teams were sent in.
BJlW TIL that The Tower Of London’s ravens are enlisted as soldiers of the Kingdom. As in the case with soldiers, the ravens can be dismissed for unsatisfactory conduct. Raven George (Enlisted 1977-1986) lost his appointment to the Crown, and was retired to Wales for attacking and destroying TV aerials.
rRMV1 TIL "Peggy Sue," released in 1957, first carried the moniker of Buddy Holly’s niece, Cindy Lou Kaiter. But Jerry Allison, The Crickets’s drummer who co-wrote the song, argued it be named after his girlfriend, Peggy Sue Gerron.
DQgeJ TIL that while serving in WWII, Mel Brooks was assembling a bridge one night when he heard German soldiers singing badly in the distance, he grabbed a bullhorn and sang back. When he was finished he thought he heard applause.