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TIL some heraldry depict an animal penis called pizzle, and the omission of it was seen as a grave insult. In 1579 the pizzle in the coat of arms of Appenzell in Switzerland was forgotten by a calendar printer of St. Gallen, which brought the two regions to the brink of war.

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ZpGZB TIL about the speed-duration relationship across the animal kingdom. According to Dr. Mark Burnley's research, humans rank as fairly average competitors overall. For middle-distance, the gold goes to the painted ghost crab, while lizards dominate in ultimate endurance.
LXgP TIL Dave Brubeck canceled 23 shows, costing him $40,000, because he refused to replace his black bassist.
Lk7lZ TIL the 100 folds in a chef's hat represent 100 ways to cook an egg.
1a7BO TIL that Carl Linnaeus was invited by the mayor of Hamburg to see his taxidermied 7-headed hydra. Linnaeus quickly determined it was a fake held together with glue, and had to flee the city after he publicly said so, ruining the mayor's hopes of selling it for a large fortune.
g9y8 TIL It takes a native English speaker 23-24 weeks to become proficient in Spanish but 88 weeks to become proficient in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, or Korean.