› added 1 month ago

5

TIL that since 2003, of the seven sumo wrestlers to achieve the highest possible rank of Yokozuna, all but one were originally from Mongolia.

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via reddit.com

GYR6J TIL about "spider goats", which are goats that have been given spider silk-spinning genes so that they produce a protein in their milk that can be extracted to produce silk.
99EM TIL Alan Rickman had to fall 25ft into an airbag for his death scene in Die Hard. The plan was for the stuntman to drop Rickman on the count of 3. However, the director secretly had the stuntman drop Rickman after a count of 1. Because of this, Rickman’s reaction in the film is completely genuine.
1aylP TIL that Pope Gregory XIV made gambling on papal elections punishable by excommunication.
7XbZ TIL that Yukon Cornelius, the prospector from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, wasn’t searching for “silver and gold” but a peppermint mine.
EryV TIL Iceland’s first permanent settler was a slave called Nightwalker who escaped his master. Little else is known about him.