› added 9 months ago

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TIL Robert Taylor, inventor of Softsoap (pump soap), realized that his idea had no patent protection. So he borrowed $12m & bought 100 million pumps, the entire American output for the next two years, giving him time to establish the brand without competition. In 1987, he sold it to Colgate for $61m

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j6B9R TIL that Harry Shearer, famed voice actor of a slew of Simpsons characters including Mr Burns, Waylon Smithers, and Principal Skinner, had his first acting role in an Abbot and Costello film. He played a small role in Abbott and Costello Go To Mars (1953).
W7aPo TIL that Magnolias are so ancient they evolved before bees, which is why they’re pollinated by beetles. Modern magnolias have changed little since the age of dinosaurs, preserving a design that once bloomed under the same skies as Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops.
DQ9vp TIL that the Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest ocean (average depth: 4,280m (14,040ft)), covering approximately 32% of the Earth's surface and about 46% of its water surface. Its area is around 165 million km² (63.8 million square miles), which is larger than all landmasses combined
awE5J TIL: Pineapples were once so rare and exotic during the 18th century they used mainly for display at dinner parties, rather than being eaten, and were used again and again until they began to rot.
yVaAl TIL Aleksey Grigorievich Bobrinsky was the illegitimate son of Catherine the great who started a house fire to hide his birth; his son Aleksey Alekseyevich Bobrinsky founded the first sugar refinery in the Russian Empire and financed some of the first rail lines in the Empire.