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TIL that sci fi franchises popular around the world today like Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner, Mad Max, and even anime like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Akira are directly inspired by a small French porn comic of the 1970s by the name of Métal Hurlant.

BgM9W TIL that in 1862 Lincoln rejected an offer for a battalion of elephants from the King of Siam (present day Thailand). The elephants would have been a follow up to a set of "royal gifts" which included a sword "of costly materials" already sent to the president. Talk about a white elephant!
8aYkP TIL In 1972, the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau captured two frames that appeared to suggest the presence of two large, unidentified animals. Three years later, in June 1975, a single camera captured what became known as the “Gargoyle shot” that appeared to show a large head with horny protrusions
m1aXy TIL, Internet Protocol had been successfully implemented in Birds (IP Over Avian Carriers, RFC 1149) with 9 packets of data, 55% packet loss ratio, and 3000000-6000000ms response time (to put into perspective, typical fiber latency is 12-15ms, at least a 20000000% increase).
b9B4p TIL there are companies who openly provide clients with hired actors to pose as fans, paparazzi, security guards, and professional paid protesters.
V0Dm TIL Veterans kill themselves at a rate of one every 80 minutes. For every soldier killed on the battlefield about 25 veterans are died by their own hands in 2012.