› added 7 years ago

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TIL Paul Shaffer, David Letterman’s band leader, co-wrote “It’s Raining Men”.

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rgPe TIL the DC supervillain Brainiac was not named after the slang term for “an intellectual”. It was the other way around; the term originated with the supervillain’s name.
G96N TIL in 1941, movie starlet Hedy Lamarr invented and patented an early technique for spread spectrum communications and frequency hopping, necessary for wireless communication. This is the basis of WiFi, CDMA, Bluetooth and other modern communication technologies.
brYN TIL that in order to study a cow’s digestion, research cows are fitted with a port in their side big enough to see and reach into so that scientists can gather the contents inside without hurting the cow. The cow lives a normal life and can actually live longer than a regular cow.
ea0J TIL that Oktoberfest started off as a wedding reception for a Prince in Bavaria in 1810, and the newlyweds enjoyed it so much, they suggested making it an annual event.
DQBJj TIL that the legs of the 630 foot 192 m) Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO had to be built with a 1/64” (0.4 mm) tolerance so that they would meet at the top. Several filmmakers documented the entire construction in hope that the legs wouldn’t meet.