› added 7 years ago

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TIL that while pregnant, Gene Tierney contracted German measles from a fan who had escaped quarantine to meet her. Her baby was born deaf and intellectually disabled as a result, inspiring the Agatha Christie book The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side

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ne5Q9 TIL In Alaska, plants can grow freakishly large due to the 20 hours of sunshine they receive per day - which gives them a photosynthesis bonus. Examples include 138 lb cabbage, 65 lb cantaloupe, & 35 lb broccoli. A noted side effect is that the produce is also much sweeter due to the extra sunlight.
6ExXY TIL Will Smith is the only actor to have 8 consecutive films gross over $100 million in the domestic box office, followed by Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks with 7 each.
bXL9 TIL in 1983 a 61 Year Old Farmer Won a 544 mile endurance race because he ran throughout the night while the younger ‘professional’ athletes slept.
MelJW TIL that José Salvador Alvarenga, a Salvadoran fisherman was stranded at sea between 2012 and 2014. He survived mainly on a diet of raw fish, turtles, small birds, sharks and rainwater.
NxWJ TIL: The biggest cities, like NYC (212), Chicago(312), and Los Angeles (213), were assigned the shortest area codes so they could be dialed fastest on rotary phones; that’s why Anchorage (907) got the short end of the stick.