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TIL: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis both once went to a party dressed as polar bears. It was not a fancy dress party

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xVbEB TIL that there is a litigation defense strategy used by authors when defaming people dubbed ‘the small penis rule’. The author, when describing a character, will add that they have a small penis, assuming that nobody would sue them for libel and admit to having a small penis.
RaYj TIL John McCain, while captured by the Vietnamese, was forced to give the names of his fellow pilots or they would kill him. Instead, he gave the names of the 1961 Green Bay Packers offensive line.
mYwy TIL That the stuff that builds up at the corners of your eyes after you wake up is there to stop bacteria from entering your eye while you sleep.
xVnQo TIL when the Supreme Court ruled on whether Muzak (e.g. elevator music) was allowed to be played on public transport, Justice Felix Frankfurter hated Muzak so much that he recused himself. He stated that he "so strongly engaged as a victim" in the case.
AyNB TIL that the sting of the tarantuala hawk wasp is among the most painful of all insects. One researcher described the pain as “…immediate… unrelenting pain that simply shuts down one’s ability to do anything, except scream.”