› added 11 years ago

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TIL that the company that makes the Etch a Sketch was on the verge of bankruptcy when it agreed to let its drawing toy be featured in Toy Story 2. Although the scene featuring an Etch a Sketch was only 12 seconds long, it resulted in a 20 percent sales bump that helped to save the company.

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4XevR TIL Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was challenged to a duel against James Laird. Clemens' marksmanship was so dreadful that his friend, Steve Gillis, shot off the head of a small bird before Laird arrived and told him that Clemens had shot it down. Thus, Laird retreated in fear and canceled the match.
X0Xv6 TIL that while the objects on the Farnese Artemis (an sculpture of goddess Artemis) had initially been identified as female breasts, the museum housing the sculpture now claims that they depict bull scrotums sacrificed to the goddess.
pVDG TIL Earthworm Jim was created as a result of the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The game was created as a satire of platform video games at the time; for instance, “Princess-What’s-Her-Name” was a parody of how so many video games had throw-away female characters to be saved.
XEreX TIL The Belgian Horse on its own, can pull around 8000lbs and when working with another Belgian it can pull three times as much at 24,000lbs, showing that the value in two is much greater than in one.
0x1R TIL the synthpop band “I Am the World Trade Center” released their debut album “Out of the Loop” in July 2001 with the 11th track of the album being “September”.