› added 2 weeks ago

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TIL Humans kill somewhere between 100 & 273 million sharks annually . Most are slaughtered exclusively for their fins to make a soup that is unhealthy—the tissue contains high levels of methylmercury. Population declines since the 1970s: blacktip = 93%, tiger = 97%, bull/dusky/hammerhead = 98%.

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via reddit.com

4X7k6 TIL that a 61yo Californian man Gregory McFadden after suffering for more than a decade with a medical condition that rendered him unable to sleep and eat properly decided to commit suicide by jumping off a helicopter mid-flight. However, he survived the jump and later died at the hospital.
Rr8w TIL that since Bale had recently been in The Machinist, he was about 120lbs(54kg) before he began work on Batman Begins. He was told to be “as big as you could be” and after 6 months, he was at 220 - too large to play the Batman Nolan wanted. He then dropped 20-30 lbs.
BrxRk TIL Elena N. Bodnar has a US Patent for inventing a brassiere, that in an emergency, can act as a pair of protective face masks and she was awarded the Ig Nobel Public Health Prize for it in 2009.
kOW7 TIL there was a reality show in 2004 that had contestants stay awake for a week, and were punished if they closed their eyes for more than 10 seconds.
XENEr TIL the blue liquid at the bottom of a porta potty was originally made with formaldehyde in order to deal with the smell. Nowadays more and more manufacturers are using enzymes and microbes that feed on odor-causing bacteria.