› added 9 years ago

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TIL JD Salinger never relinquished rights for audiobooks. The only legal way to obtain a Catcher in the Rye audiobook, is to have “permission” from a physician or ophthalmologist to listen to a “legal audiobook” recorded for the Library of Congress, who can do so by law, but only for the blind.

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R7b8a TIL that an Alabama bloodhound joined a half marathon after her owner let her out to go pee. She ran the entire 13.1 miles and finished 7th.
MQYm TIL cats domesticated themselves.
WllB TIL that David Robinson grew so tall (7'0" by graduation) at the Naval Academy that he could not have served at sea, hurting any career in the US Navy. Instead of leaving the academy, as a compromise he was assigned to shore duty as an engineer before becoming a basketball superstar in the NBA.
d15r TIL Yew trees can exceed 1000 years, are often found in graveyards, and have a long association with death; they’re deadly poisonous to humans, with no known antidote. However, the tree is used to make taxanes, which are used to fight cancer.
0g5y TIL that spacecraft designers have to contend with a poorly-understood phenomenon known as “cold welding” where clean metal surfaces can spontaneously weld themselves together in the vacuum of space.