› added 11 years ago

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TIL that penguins can drink salt water because they have a supraorbital gland, which lets them filtrate the salt from the water.

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KdMa TIL during the filming of Lord of the Rings, Sean Bean refused a helicopter ride to a set due to a fear of flying and instead hiked up to it in full Boromir armor
0wEpN TIL about Product 19. A cereal that was made by Kellogg's as a competitor to General Mills' Total cereal, by providing 100% daily amounts of various minerals and vitamins. It existed from 1967-2016 and was named simply due to being the 19th version of that cereal.
R7QJa TIL a lot of the greek tragedies of the classical period are "spin offs" or new takes on stories from the works of Homer. In Euripides' "Helen", Helen of Troy never really went to Troy, but unbeknownst to the Achaeans, she was in Egypt the whole time, and the trojan war was completely pointless
w6R8 TIL the leader of Myanmar (formerly Burma) was advised by a wizard that his country was leaning too far to the left, politically. To remedy this, he forced the population to drive on the right side of the road, causing mass confusion.
MeajA TIL Lighthouses had different techniques for rotating the light, most being too slow, making the light less visible. Augustin Fresnel proposed a mercury flotation system in 1825. Despite some lenses weighing over 6,000 lbs. the design reduced friction, increased rotation, and ultimately saved lives.