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TIL about the "hijacking" of the oil tanker, Brillante Virtuoso in the Gulf of Aden in 2011. There pirate attack left the ship heavily damaged and it was scrapped. The owner attempted a $100 mil insurance claim, one of the primary inspectors was killed in a car bomb, others were harassed.

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awAdo TIL that prairie dogs have a language with over 50 unique words including ones for “human” and “human with gun”.
B4Je TIL that while he was writing the score for The Last Samurai, Hans Zimmer felt that his knowledge of Japanese music was very limited even after doing extensive research. When he took what he had written to Japan for feedback he was shocked when he was asked how he knew so much about Japanese music.
1awNd TIL of Eric Hoffer, a writer and philosopher, who went blind from age 7 to 15. He was so afraid he would go blind again that he spent his life reading, studying and writing everything he could before he lost his sight again (which he never did).
b9gQp TIL In the middle ages some kings had clothes made from "Salamander fur" which were completely fire-proof and bright white. The name likely comes from the common belief that Salamanders were "born from fire". The clothes were actually made out of asbestos.
MelYW TIL that in the early 1900s, it was believed that human cells in culture would proliferate continuously, but Leonard Hayflick proved that cells “remember” their replication level and have a limit to the number of times they can divide, also that cancer cells do not, so only they are immortal.