› added 6 years ago

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TIL that it is illegal to feed or touch seals in the wild, even if it is believed a seal pup has been abandoned. Well-meaning people have illegally picked up seal pups in Oregon and Washington thinking they were abandoned or needed help, but that interference ultimately resulted in two deaths.

MeR5W TIL: Similar to Italian produced westerns being called Spaghetti Westerns, Australian produced westerns are called Meat Pie Westerns. "The Story Of the Kelly Gang", a 1906 film considered by some to be the world's first feature length film, is a Meat Pie Western.
e09P6 TIL of Medieval Chinese "Biaoju" (Security Company). Founded by peasant fighters, ex-military men entering lucrative private sector, and even ex-bandits, they provided bodyguard/escort and detective services to clients (usually travelling merchants) for a fee. The last Biaoju closed in 1920.
7rRVx TIL Walt Disney's daughter, Diane, rarely spoke to the press. She never sat on the board of the company and in the late Eighties she sold the last of her personal stock. Her children told her that their friends didn’t know that Walt Disney was a man: they only knew his name as a brand
GAJ61 TIL China has Muslim Labour Camps
16wJd TIL about the Burgess Shale, a UNESCO world heritage site, and a very important fossil bed for understanding the history of life on earth. First discovered in 1909 by Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of the Smithsonian. They are located near Mt. Burgess in the Canadian Rockies.