› added 13 years ago

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TIL that the filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy pumped roughly $200,000,000 into the New Zealand economy.

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via reddit.com

9Yx0m TIL that despite the historical fame of the Rubicon, the river crossed by Julius Caesar, its identity was forgotten for centuries, and even today, we're not 100% sure which river it was.
oPgr TIL some spiders have natural metals built into their fangs. And one, the wandering spider, has fangtips that are almost entirely metal.
j6oEv TIL the first incumbent US President to visit the UK was Woodrow Wilson in December 1918
5VP7p TIL that the reason grape flavors often taste so artificial is because they are derived from methyl anthranilate, a compound found in Concord grapes and coal byproducts.
vPXQj TIL the Nazis developed a spherical one-man tank called the "Kugelpanzer" meaning "ball tank." Its development and purpose are a mystery as the only surviving one was found with the Japanese in China by the Soviets and all other documentation lost.