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TIL Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA star, is actually a published novelist and has written about the adventures of Mycroft Holmes, in addition to other works

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e0XKD TIL in historic folklore, vampires suffered from arithmomania (compulsive counting). They were often combatted by placing great quantities of items near them in order to keep them occupied. This served as inspiration for The Count on Sesame Street.
vPa58 TIL that the revolutionary idea by Julius Petri, creator of the Petri dish, was actually to cover the agar plate with a slightly bigger clear lid in order to see growth without contaminating the specimens.
X6D TIL During the battle for Iwo Jima, a 17 year old Marine jumped on top of two grenades to protect his comrades. He survived both explosions.
OG48g TIL that 'Rocky' (1976) was inspired by the true story of Chuck Wepner, a local boxer from New Jersey who was set up for a dream fight with Muhammad Ali. Wepner quit his job to train full time, and against all odds, lasted 15 rounds with the champ. Stallone was in the audience.
6E6lw TIL In 1897 a Swedish Balloonist and his two colleagues began their nationally covered journey to fly over the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon. Four decades later a whaling ship came across their remains on a small arctic island, having crashed and perished in the tough arctic climate.