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Today I learned that that skin flap on cats' stomachs is not due to overweight. Instead they may serve to protect the cat's internal organs when in fights. It also allows for the cats to stretch more when running/jumping and provides room for an extended belly in case of a bigger than usual meal.

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via reddit.com

mxZBE TIL there is an island called Disappointment Island. It's uninhabited, but home to over 65,000 pairs of white-capped albatross. In 1868, a steel tanker crashed there and 68 people died, while the remaining 15 waited 18 months to be rescued. In 1907, another ship crashed there and 12 men drowned.
mLPo TIL that MIT students must pass a swim test to graduate. The director of phys ed said swimming is “…a self-survival skill. Research shows that most drownings occur in families where parents don’t know how to swim.”
pZRA TIL that Jeffery Dahmer’s father was seconds away from opening a metal box that contained a head and penis of one of Jeff’s victims, but was convinced by his son that the box contained only pornography.
kJY7m TIL after being sent to Baltimore in his youth, Frederick Douglass learned the alphabet from the mistress of the house he moved into. When the mistress' husband put an end to the lessons, Douglass began trading bread to hungry neighborhood children who, in turn, helped him learn how to read & write
j6oBv TIL: Rum is subsidized by US taxes