› added 12 years ago

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TIL the famous Bloop sound, once thought to come from an unknown marine animal, was recently attributed by NOAA to icebergs cracking.

Read more pmel.noaa.gov

via reddit.com

KOOX9 TIL at the beginning of his performance at Carnegie Hall, Andy Kaufman invited his "grandmother" to watch the show from a chair he had placed at the side of the stage. At the end of the show, she stood up, took her mask off and revealed that she was actually comedian Robin Williams in disguise.
X0OvE TIL that the name of the orchid comes from the Greek word for testicle, "ὄρχις", because of the shape of the twin tubers in some plants of the genus Orchis. This resemblance is also why the Middle English word for certain orchids was "bollockwort", from "bollock" (testicle) and "wort" (plant).
gKeX TIL there was an experiment where 2 groups of 11-12 yr old boys were given separate camps in a state park. When the groups became aware of each other they began raiding each other’s camps, which led to physical combat. The investigators ended the experiment for fear someone would get seriously hurt.
awM9J TIL Chevy had an option on almost all of its cars in the 60s called "Liquid Chain". It would spray a traction enhancing substance on the tires to aid traction in snow.
nyEB TIL that on this day (September 16) in 1959, the Xerox 914 copier was introduced to the public in a demonstration at the Sherry-Netherland Hotel in New York, shown on live television, and subsequently revolutionized the industry and office work forever.