› added 1 year ago

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TIL Jimmy Webb wrote the classic song 'Highwayman' after a hard night of drinking with Harry Nilsson he passed out and had a hyper realistic dream about riding horse back with pistols and being chased and shot at by the police. He woke up drenched in sweat and immediately wrote the song

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Me1R7 TIL That Hedwig from Harry Potter was named after Saint Hedwig, the Patron Sain of Orphans, and also died protecting Harry when he turned 18, as he was no longer an orphan.
kOKVW TIL that the esteemed Swedish university, Lund University, had its Facebook admin put out a statement requesting Indians not to make fun of the university in the comment sections, because "Lund" translates to "penis" in Hindi.
8algZ TIL that the meteor that hit the Caribbean and killed the dinosaurs caused a wave 100m (330ft) tall. If the meteor had struck in the deep sea, the wave would have been 4.6km (2.9m) tall.
yQ40M TIL scientists developed an experimental "universal treatment" for allergies. While still being tested, it works by wrapping allergens in a nanoparticle which sneaks it past the immune system. This helps the body understand it to be harmless. They so far successfully cured mice with egg allergies.
Oxl4 TIL Ten days after the Chernobyl disaster, further risk of massive thermal explosion was identified, then three men known as “The Chernobyl divers” volunteered to swim through pooled water under leaked reactor to find and release the safety valves. They died few days later due to radiation exposure