› added 1 year ago

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TIL that mucus is more than just snot and boogers. Fish use it on their skin to fight microbes; snails and slugs use it to move, stay moist, and cover their eggs; hagfish use it in slime to deter predators; and larval lampreys use it when they're feeding.

8armV TIL that during WW2, Norwegians mostly resisted the German occupation nonviolently. They would refuse to go to German-owned businesses, pretend to not speak German, and refuse to sit next to Germans on public transport.
E8Y7 TIL in 1999, a young trainee surgeon travelled to Kosovo to provide medical help to victims of war. In a strange turn of events, Craig Jurisevic became a Mafia target, and played a part in the bombing of 400 Serbian forces.
jdAp TIL the intro to “Iron Man” was achieved by having Ozzy Osbourne sing through a spinning fan. When the Guitar Hero team wanted to record a cover of the song, they bought the same model of fan through Craigslist to duplicate the effect.
4XZog TIL There's a theory that John Wilkes Booth wasn't killed after assassinating Abraham Lincoln, but that he actually escaped and lived under a pseudonyms for 38 more years -- and that his mummified body toured the country for decades after his true death in 1903.
XEyE TIL Stephen King’s lawyer bought and then crushed the van that severely injured King when it knocked him down. King later said he was disappointed he’d never had the opportunity to destroy it himself with a baseball bat and a pickaxe.