› added 7 years ago

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TIL that David Robinson grew so tall (7'0" by graduation) at the Naval Academy that he could not have served at sea, hurting any career in the US Navy. Instead of leaving the academy, as a compromise he was assigned to shore duty as an engineer before becoming a basketball superstar in the NBA.

mxK9P TIL in 1911, a "witchcat" appeared near Pottsville PA. It caused hens to crow like rooster and pigs to bark like dogs. Thomas Howell, the man who saw it, died along with eight cows and horses, the deaths attributed to a hex. The family crafted a golden bullet to shoot the cat and break the hex.
PYV7L TIL that the woman who played Vera Webster in Superman III was also an accomplished singer. Probably saw that movie a hundred times as a kid and never knew this.
9Y8wB TIL that beer mugs are not called "steins" in Germany. "Stein" is the German word for "stone." The English word "stein" probably comes from the German word "Steinzeug" which means "stoneware"—the type of pottery that cheap beer mugs are often made of.
W7EyB TIL That Garrett Brown, inventor of the Skycam suspended camera used to shoot sporting events, got the idea from a conversation with former football player Merlin Olsen the set of Little House on the Prairie.
Yp8mx TIL of Jaycee Dugard, an 11-year old girl who was kidnapped in 1991 only to be found when her kidnapper walked into a school in 2009 with two young girls claiming they were his daughters. They were in fact his daughters, their mother being Jaycee; a prisoner for 18 years and a mother at 14.