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TIL that Romans weaved asbestos fibers into a cloth-like material that was then sewn into tablecloths and napkins. These cloths were cleaned by throwing them into a blistering fire, from which they came out unharmed and whiter than when they went in.

a8AgZ TIL on 10 May 1977, Donald J. Smith and his father, Frank J. Smith, of Orlando, Florida, were awarded a patent for their variation of the comb over that conceals baldness by combing long hair in three separate directions.
Lk5VZ TIL producer Lee Mendelson was working on a Peanuts special when—while driving over the Golden Gate Bridge—Vince Guaraldi's Cast Your Fate To The Wind came on the radio. He was so moved, he immediately booked lunch with Guaraldi & asked him to score the music for A Charlie Brown Christmas.
mxg1v TIL Roddy Piper improvised the "I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass.... and I'm all out of bubblegum," line from They Live. John Carpenter told Roddy that he wasn't gonna rob the bank, but he was holding a shotgun and wearing sunglasses, so he needed to say something.
d84Q7 TIL: The observable universe is a spherical region of the Universe comprising all matter that can be observed from Earth at the present time, because electromagnetic radiation from these objects have had time to reach Earth since the Big Bang. Everywhere has its own observable universe
g4BW TIL a team at Nike created a pair of sneakers inspired by the ‘Heaven’s Gate’ UFO cult (who wore Nike Decades when they killed themselves). They never made it into stores.