› added 3 months ago

9

TIL the film "It's A Wonderful Life" (1946) was based on a book called "The Greatest Gift", which itself was based on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol".

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

p8vBb TIL bottled water brands Perrier, S. Pellegrino and Vittel are all owned by the same company, Nestle. In total Nestle sells water under 50 different brands, including Poland Spring and Zephyrhills.
LQdKZ 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.
VBLAZ TIL about Pelorus Jack a Risso's dolphin that was famous for meeting and escorting ships through a dangerous stretch of water in New Zealand. If the crew could not see Jack at first, they often waited for him to appear.
awR8L TIL There has been no correlation between Punxsutawney Phil's predictions and what the country has seen weather-wise each year. For 120 plus years records have been kept, Phil's six-week prognostications have been correct only around 39 percent of the time
QdB9 TIL that a Norwegian anthropologist crossed the Pacific Ocean on a primitive balsawood raft to prove his theory that South Americans could have originally populated Polynesia.