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TIL James Van Der Beek's last name translates to English as "from the creek". He is best known for playing the titular character on the 1990s drama series "Dawson's Creek".

Read more surnames.behindthename.com

via reddit.com

X0e1E TIL the Tolkien Estate sued Dungeons & Dragons for using the words dragon, dwarf, elf, ent, goblin, hobbit, orc, balrog, and warg. As a result, all but hobbit, ent, and balrog were ruled as public domain.
5yYR TIL it costs $10,000 per pound for NASA to launch a payload into orbit. NASA’s Advanced Space Transportation Program is developing technologies to reduce this to $100 per pound by 2025.
ANYa7 TIL: Alfonso XII, King of Spain during the first Restoration, had his legitimacy questioned as his mother's consort was rumored to be homosexual; the real father was likely a palace guard commander. Alfonso didn't live to see the birth of his heir.
1aWD7 TIL There is a bank in Italy that accepts Parmigiano cheese as collateral for small business loans.
M7AVV TIL airports hire crews of "birdmen" that use methods like horns, sirens, lasers, and pyrotechnics to ward off large groups of birds. They even intentionally remove horizontal branches from nearby trees to discourage large migrations from settling near the runways.