› added 10 years ago

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TIL Kevin Spacey was originally slated to play the president in Independence Day. Studio executives insisted the part be rewritten for Bill Pullman because they felt Spacey was incapable of starring in blockbusters. He won his first academy award 10 months later.

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nepKd TIL that sausages have been commonly referred to as "dogs" since the 1800s due to a belief that sausage makers used dog meat in their sausages. Consumption of dog meat was common in Germany up to the early 1900s so these suspicion was "occasionally justified".
WOmX TIL that before she became the first animal sent into orbit Laika (a stray dog from the streets of Moscow) was taken home by a Russian scientist to play with his children. He said, “I wanted to do something nice for her; she had so little time left to live”.
j6MKX TIL Georgia was ruled by a woman during the apex of it's Golden Age in the 12th century. She was given the title of King instead of Queen.
bwej TIL There’s a 12-foot-tall replica of the Washington Monument hidden under a manhole nearby the original. It is used for surveying
0wXYp TIL I learned why we can “smell metals” when they don’t have a significant vapour pressure, sublimating etc. We smell the reaction of oils in our skin with the metal, producing detectable byproducts such as ketones, not the metal itself.