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TIL Mr. T chose his professional name to stop people from disrespecting him and his family members who had served in Vietnam by calling them "boy." He wanted everyone to address him as "Mister" to show proper respect.

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wo5EM TIL: In Australia there are 'Firehawks', which are birds that intentionally set forest fires as a hunting technique
4LN5 TIL the State Hermitage Museum in Russia has a team of cats that prowl the museum to protect the artwork against rodents. The cats even carry a passport with a photo.
X9Gj TIL The only known surviving puppets from the iconic Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer film were rediscovered in 2005 on Antiques Roadshow. They were stored and forgotten in an attic in disrepair after being given to kids as toys.
KYQPE TIL that in 1972 a meteor entered earth's athmosphere just 57km over Utah, travelling northwards at 15km/s and left it again over Alberta, creating the "1972 Great Daylight Fireball". And there's a crazy f ing video of it.
LQ11p TIL about 2,4-DNP, a chemical that was used, among other things, to make black dye. 3 workers died during the 1890s after accidentally ingesting it. It dissipates energy from food in the body as heat, making people rapidly lose body fat and die from an excessive rise in body temperature.