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TIL the spherical cow is a humorous metaphor originating in theoretical physics. The metaphor refers to some scientific tendencies to develop toy models that reduce a problem to the simplest form imaginable, even if the simplification hinders the model's application to reality.

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aKpJ TIL a teacher who developed a brain tumor became a pedophile as a result. When the tumor was removed he returned to normal but then reverted to pedophilia when the tumor regrew
BgLpb TIL that earlier this year, after 19 years, Tonette Jackson's body was finally identified. Her husband, Hardy, became the face of Katrina victims in 2005 after a heartbreaking interview while he searched for her in the aftermath of the storm.
GEN5 TIL 11 teens die every day as a result of texting while driving; 94% of teen drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving, but 35% admitted to doing it anyway.
X0M8X TIL that both the fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk" and Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series were both inspired by just three consecutive lines from a single scene of Shakespeare's King Lear
69Vo7 TIL about the Dictionnaire Infernal, a book on demonology first published in 1818. Initially a work of fiction, author Collin de Plancy later converted to Roman Catholicism and amended the book: the final edition aligns with Catholic theology and affirms the existence of the demons.