› added 5 years ago

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TIL a public speaking expert theorised that the Australian accent sounds slurred because the first colonists were always drunk.

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R7lKw TIL that elephants are a keystone species. They carve pathways through impenetrable under brush shaping entire ecosystems as they create pools in dried river beds and spread seeds as they travel.
Z8mDv TIL Spaceballs wasn't the the first Star Wars parody, a 13 minute short titled Hardware Wars released in 1978 was the first. With a production cost of $8k and box office of $1million it even beat the earnings ratio of Star Wars. During a 1999 interview George Lucas named it his favorite.
VMExZ TIL Joseph Pilates was a German working in England when WW1 broke out. While interned in a prison camp he developed a method of exercise prisoners could perform in confined space using just their own body weight. It worked well and was a hit, and he eventually moved to the US in 1926.
plJe TIL: Google sought out to make the most efficient teams by studying their employees. Named ‘Project Aristotle’ the research found Psychological Safety to be the most important factor in a successful team. That is an ability to take risk without fear of judgement from peers.
EGXP TIL Dubai has a weight-loss contest called ‘Your Child in Gold’ where individual participants win one gram of gold for every one kilogram (~2.2lbs) lost, and double reward for families. The contest is aimed at combating early obesity and raise awareness on the disease.