› added 5 years ago

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TIL that a European fungus, accidentally spread to North America in 2006, has caused Bat populations across the US and Canada to plummet by over 90%. Formerly very common bat species now face extinction, having already almost entirely disappeared over the Northeastern US and Eastern Canada

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R7KPa TIL professional clowns who want to patent their look can paint their likeness on an egg and have them stored in the Clown Gallery in East London. This egg registry acts as an informal copyright that protects a clown from having their look stolen by a copycat.
0dmx1 TIL the UK engaged in reparations for slavery, but only for slave owning families. The British tax payers finally paid off the debt from this in 2015.
kX1m TIL it is illegal to perform the Rusty Trombone in the state of Utah
loypV TIL there's evidence the mullet haircut has been worn for thousands of years. The pilgrims described Native Americans with this type of haircut and ancient figurines from the first century show a Celtic man or deity with a mullet.
QNPM6 TIL that Austrian actress Eva von Berne was presumed to be dead for 70+ years because a PR consultant at MGM accidentally reported her death in 1930. 96-year-old von Berne said in 2006: "It was fortunate that the world thought that I died. So I did not have to deal with autograph hunters."