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TIL During WWII, Robert Johnson II’s Permacell division of Johnson&Johnson invented duct tape as a sealant for ammunition boxes to keep them from becoming waterlogged.

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PNDE TIL the Lifeline pendants, from the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” commercials, had to be redesigned after they killed several people.
p8lrA TIL about Kessler Syndrome, a scenario that a chain reaction of exploding space debris can end up making space activities and the use of satellites impossible for generations.
jo5a TIL Komodo dragons can reproduce completely asexually, through a process called parthenogenesis. Furthermore, offspring reproduced by this process can only be male. This means that a single female dragon can create an entirely new colony without a mate.
MeB8B TIL Codpiece (Middle English: cod, meaning “scrotum”), feature of 15-16th c. men’s fashion, was shaped & padded to emphasize the genital area. It became fashionable to design the codpiece to hold the penis in a position insinuating it was erect constantly—a statement of political and economic power.
nWmxd TIL Martin Luther King Jr. And Richard Nixon were both offered roles in Advise & Consent (1962). King made a press release saying he would not be in the film. Nixon turned down the offer over technical errors in the script.