› added 11 years ago

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TIL that from the 2009-2010 fiscal year, Susan G Komen foundation only donated 20.9% percent of its $390 million in earnings to actual cancer research.

nWkOP TIL that at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, well-behaved prisoners are allowed to keep cats. These feline companions are believed to help in managing the prisoners' temperaments and are considered very beneficial for the convicts.
jN6KR You probably know that your visual perception of the world is a bit different than your pets’. Dogs see things with less color than humans, snakes can see infrared, and if you have a pet bull, it lives in a world where red and green are the same color. This brings up a good question. Why do you have a pet bull? You should get a cat instead, and when you do, it is important to know that your new friend can’t focus on objects farther than 20 feet away. The point is, animals have evolved to see in a variety of ways. But how can we see things through their eyes? Marine biologist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer David Gruber collaborated with a research team to develop lights and camera filters that allowed him to do just that, underwater. Through their work, the team discovered biofluorescence in an abundance of aquatic species. This “glowing” trait has to do with how an organism absorbs and emits light. Research has indicated that this radiance is possibly used for communication and camouflage. One caveat: You need a certain species of eyes (or David’s camera) to see it. Swell sharks (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) have fluorescent proteins inside their skin, which are triggered by the ocean’s blue light, becoming visible to other swell sharks. David’s camera has special yellow filters that allow the simulation of a swell shark’s vision. It turns out there is a massive rave going on 500 meters below the ocean’s surface, and one of the glowing guests is a type of cat shark!
E7rd TIL CNN’s founder Ted Turner, at the launch of the channel in 1980, promised: “We won’t be signing off until the world ends. … We’ll be … covering it live. … [And] when the end of the world comes, we’ll play ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ before we sign off.”
M8nA TIL in 1953, following athlete Jim Thorpe’s death, his widow was upset that his native Oklahoma would not memorialize him. Hearing of two random towns in Pennsylvania that were desperate for money, she convinced them to merge and name the new town Jim Thorpe, PA, which it’s still called to this day.
W7xG8 TIL That there are estimated to be at least a minimum of 100 political prisoners in the United States