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TIL that 95% of all Thoroughbred racehorses can be traced back to a single 18th-century stallion

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nkPr TIL “huh?” is a universal word and is found in roughly the same form and function in spoken languages across the globe.
P1LMG TIL: a total solar eclipse occurs somewhere on Earth roughly every 18 months, but it only reoccurs in the same place every 350-400 years.
epNKL TIL The US likely would have had explorers on Mars by the 1980s, but Nixon killed every proposal in 1969, slashed the NASA budget after Apollo 12, and stifled space exploration by setting low Earth orbit as the norm
0wo7R TIL during world War II, the army would pour ice cold water in the ear of "draft dodgers" who pretended to be deaf. The normal response is to turn the eyes to the ear with cold water (Caloric reflex. About half of deaf lack this reflex). No response = truly deaf. Response = Possible draft dodger.
6Edpl TIL that actor Michael Caine originally joined drama class in high school because it was full of girls and he wanted to get laid. He ended up winning two Oscars.