› added 7 years ago

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TIL that NBA player Shaquille O'Neal starred in ‘Kazaam’ (1996) because “I was a medium-level juvenile delinquent from Newark who always dreamed about doing a movie. Someone said, 'Hey, here’s $7 million, come in and do this genie movie.’ What am I going to say, no? So I did it.”

Ool51 TIL that popcorn was the first food deliberately cooked with microwaves
XZpQ TIL of the Skeleton Coast of Namibia, aka “The Gates of Hell”, a place so inhospitable that when the MV Dunedin went aground in 1942, passengers were only rescued after another ship ran aground, a big aircraft was damaged on landing, was repaired and crashed again, and several army trucks were lost.
x60dg TIL that despite being advised by his professor not to pursue physics because “almost everything is already discovered,” Max Planck went on to develop quantum theory and win the Nobel Prize
4Xrw6 TIL Alcohol's measurement is coined "proof" because, during the 1500s, England would increase taxes on drinks containing a higher percentage of alcohol. They would measure this is by soaking gunpowder in the alcohol and trying to ignite it. If it ignited, this was "proof" that it had a high content.
MeZkK TIL Tropical rainforests cover less than 3% of Earth's area, yet they are home to more than half our planet's terrestrial animal species. Bengal tigers, mountain gorillas, orangutans, jaguars, and blue poison dart frogs are just a few of the magnificent animals found in rainforests.