› added 4 years ago

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TIL that Sir Ian McKellen turned down the role of Dumbledore in the Harry Potter franchise as he felt it would be inappropriate after the previous actor, Richard Harris, called him a 'dreadful actor'

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N7Y51 TIL a study of spiny lobsters showed they avoid others who've contracted an infectious disease called PaV1 that is transmitted by physical contact and which has a steady 7% infection rate in Florida waters. Spiny lobsters are very social and share communal dens but will shun infected individuals.
0wXwv There's a tree that owns itself in Athens, Georgia
XEl4P TIL Bill Gates had an arrangement with Melinda that he and his ex-girlfriend, Ann Winblad, could keep one vacation tradition alive. Every spring, as they have for more than a decade, Gates spends a long weekend with Winblad at her beach cottage.
EgJJp TIL that animals and plants can be "cosmopolitan", meaning they are found all over the world. For example, rails are a cosmopolitan family of bird.
WOMB TIL the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL team) installed two Tesla coils in its stadium in 2011, just so they could shoot lightning whenever they scored a goal.