› added 7 years ago

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TIL the city of Whynot, North Carolina has it’s name because as residents were arguing over a name for the city, some bloke stood up and said “Why not name the town Why Not and let’s go home?” And so they did.

kOgBg TIL of "The Thing", a listening device designed by the guy who invented the theremin, disguised as a gift from the Soviets to the US ambassador to spy on the US.
xVBAb TIL that in 1946, George Kennan, then USA's deputy head of mission in Moscow, sent a 8000 worded "Long Telegram", which became the basis of US approach towards USSR is the Cold War. He warned US of Kremlin's expansionist dreams, which, if unchecked, would shatter the principals on which US stands.
e0KGJ TIL that when actor Raul Julia was terminally ill, he decided that his last performance would be as the villain in Street Fighter, as his children were fans of the game it was based on. The movie received terrible reviews, but Julia's performance was critically acclaimed.
5YVJr Characterized by their large green bodies and beak-like teeth, bumphead parrotfish can be found near the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific. These large corallivores use their mighty teeth to grind up the hard exterior of coral in search of the small creatures living inside. If you've ever visited a beach in these regions, you've probably relaxed on the sandy remnants of this coral-based diet. In other words, that beach is full of crap! National Geographic grantee Mikayla Wujec fills us in in this episode of Today I Learned.
Me6wW TIL 17th-century Europeans knew teen pregnancy was dangerous for women; Shakespeare may have written Juliet’s age as 13 wanting to marry Romeo in secret to shock Elizabethan audiences