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TIL That Martha 'Big Mouth' Raye so endeared herself to the US Military for her USO work she was made an honorary Lt. Colonel in the Army and Marines and was one of the only civilians to be made an honorary member of the US Army Special Forces.

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a86Y9 TIL planets are round because of gravity. A planet's gravity pulls equally from all sides. Gravity pulls from the center to the edges like the spokes of a bicycle wheel.
7W5P TIL there is a house in Warsaw that is 152 centimeters (60 in.) wide, placed in the exact space between two buildings.
GVrN TIL that in the early 1900s oyster fishermen in Narragansett Bay tried to eliminate starfish that were preying on their oysters. Whenever they encountered starfish, they chopped them up with their knives and threw them back into the water. As a result, the sea star population increased explosively.
pYG0p TIL scenes from the 1976 film Rocky such as the carcass-punching scenes and Rocky running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art are based on events in Joe Frazier's real life. Frazier makes a cameo appearance in the film as a spectator at the fight between Rocky and Apollo Creed.
D6wp TIL the 9/11 tragedy released a cloud of asbestos fibers over NYC. 400 tons of asbestos was in the WTC building. An estimated 410,000 people were exposed to the toxic substance. Nearly 70% of rescuers have lung problems. Experts expect cancer diagnoses to peak in 2041-four decades after the attack.