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TIL castoreum is secreted by beavers to mark their territory and to waterproof their fur. When it squirts out, the noise can be heard by someone standing nearby. The FDA considers castoreum a "natural flavor" since it comes from a natural source and it can be used as a food additive.

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kO1wB TIL that Beretta, the maker of the famous Beretta 92 9mm pistol, was founded in 1526 and has supplied arms to every major European war since 1650
Y79gd TIL that the famous two-part, two-season episode of the Simpsons called Who Shot Mr. Burns is a parody of an episode of the soap opera Dallas called Who Shot J.R., which was also a two-part, two-season cliffhanger.
XXaP TIL L. Ron Hubbard believed so strongly that he had been Cecil Rhodes in a previous life that in 1966 he travelled to Rhodesia to recover the huge amounts of gold and diamonds he had stashed away in this previous life. Declared an unwanted persons, he was deported and lost $200,000 on the expedition
Vj1p TIL There used to be a coloring book to help A-10 pilots learn how to take out enemy tanks. It included phrases such as “Color the bottom of the tank green and yourself brown—you dumb shit. An A-10 will not fit underneath a T-62 tank and remain airborne.”
VBBrk TIL that time dilation is the reason we can use muon tomography to scan the Great Pyramids. From their point of view, muons only live a very short time. But they go so fast that from our point of view, they live long enough to penetrate the atmosphere and large objects.