› added 5 years ago

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TIL that a "loose cannon" is an apt name for something out of control: when an 8000 pound cannon came loose from a mooring on a ship, it could wreak terror on the crew as it wiped out anything or person in its path and destroyed the ship's walls

yMKa TIL a woman was awarded $988,000 in 1986 after claiming a CAT scan took away her psychic powers.
grxgy TIL I learned that there was a suspected fifth flight on 9/11 that was thwarted by the nationwide ground stop. When the captain said the flight was returning to the gate, several first class passengers got very upset and demanded to speak to the captain. Back at the gate, they ran off the plane.
neXZr TIL the 1993 film Philadelphia, the story of a man who was discriminated against due to having AIDS, was itself subject of a lawsuit. The family of the late Geoffrey Bowers sued, claiming that the film heavily borrowed from the story of his own lawsuit without giving him compensation or credit.
9d4D TIL that it is possible for a human to become a Chimera by fusing with his/her fraternal twin in the womb. If it occurs early enough, each twin will claim body parts as his/her own, allowing a single person to be made up of two genetically different individuals.
rRr1M TIL that Sheila Chandra who sings Braith of Life (a.k.a The Grace of Valar) from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers suffered from the burning mouth syndrome (BMS) starting 2010 and has been since been rendered effectively mute.