› added 12 years ago

509

TIL That this fruit is the world’s shiniest living thing

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16JlX TIL after the American Revolution the -ville suffix became popular in the names of new US settlements due to an increase of pro-French sentiments.
Y7xZW TIL that Viggo Mortensen took on the role of Aragorn in LOTR because of his 11-year-old son's love for the books. He insisted on performing his own stunts and using a real steel sword. Additionally, he purchased and bonded with the two horses he rode during the filming.
QN76X TIL that 8% of our DNA comes from remnants of ancient viruses. And an additional 40% is made up of repetitive strings of DNA that's also thought to have viral origins. Almost half our DNA didn't come from us.
16MDW TIL Heinrich Himmler's daughter, Gudrun Burwitz, never renounced Nazi ideology, spending most of her life defending her father's reputation. She died in 2018.
N7ynN TIL the majority of nukes ever detonated were done so outside Las Vegas -- over 1,000. You could see mushroom clouds from the hotels.