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105

TIL that the reason the snooze on a clock is 9 minutes is because in the 1950s, they had to make snooze gears fit onto the existing clock mechanics. Unable to use 10, they chose 9 minutes.

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e0Ngk TIL that Founding Father John Adams would turn down invitations to July 4 celebrations, believing that July 2 (the date the Continental Congress voted for American independence) was the correct date to celebrate Independence Day.
rRvme TIL one theory for why we haven’t discovered extraterrestrial life is that Earth is early to the party. Over the next 100 trillion years before the last star burns out, 92% of Earth-like planets that could foster life elsewhere have yet to be born.
QJnRa TIL of the Scrub Bulls of Australia, wild descendants of 20 cattle released from an abandoned military post in 1849. In the 1960's researchers realized there was a population of some 1,500 feral cattle. Today they are often hunted for sport.
JrZk TIL that the word “Nonchalant” has no opposite. There’s no “chalant,” just “nonchalant.” Only the negative form of the word has found a home in English.
e0E5E TIL that NFL officials used to use a gunshot to signal the end of a quarter. In 1994 they switched to using a whistle.