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TIL that the pirate Benjamin Hornigold once raided a merchant ship just to steal the hats from the ship's crew because his crew had gotten too drunk the night before and had thrown their hats overboard.

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JYAy8 TIL Humans are still evolving. One fast-evolving gene is human accelerated region 1 (HAR1), which is needed during brain development. In Tibet, a rapid surge in frequency of a mutated gene that increases blood oxygen content gives locals a survival advantage in higher altitudes.
ZpKmD TIL Commercial drones and controllers emits its location unencrypted which is why police can easily locate them.
EgE80 TIL the special effect in sci-fi movies of a 2D ring of energy or matter emanating from an explosion is called the 'Praxis Effect', named after the visual effect of the explosion of the planet Praxis in Star Trek VI. Other uses include the seismic charges in Star Wars Attack of the Clones.
KYGm9 TIL the Chandra X-Ray Telescope captures X-ray photons at a calculated angle, using the same ancient technique as stone-skimming, otherwise the X-rays would pass straight through the mirror.
6Expw TIL that in the year 1913, 39.8% of GMC's sales were battery electric-powered trucks.