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TIL: Hibernating bears don’t eat or drink, and thus don’t poop or pee, but they develop a fecal plug in their intestines that can grow to 7 to 15 inches long and 1 to 2.5 inches in diameter. They defecate when they emerge from hibernation. “Fecal plugs have a light odor that is not unpleasant.”

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Y7vKZ TIL Bahia incident, in which a Union warship captured a Confederate warship in Brazilian waters. As a result, Union Commander Napoleon Collins was court-martialed; his dismissal was never carried out because his actions were viewed as militarily helpful and popular in the North.
GYKZj TIL that basketball legend Calvin Murphy was a nationally renowned baton twirler. In 1977, at the height of his career, he was Texas State Men’s Twirling champ.
kOEW7 TIL An assistant professor at Stanford created a hand powered paper centrifuge ($0.20 to make) and a paper-lense microscope($0.45-$0.55). Both helping to diagnose blood borne illnesses, such as malaria, in underdeveloped countries.
9EEG TIL although Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” outsold any other book of its time, he didn’t make any profit, instead donating the sales to buy mittens for the troops in the American Revolution
LQd1Q TIL that, as per his final request, the heart of Frédéric Chopin was removed and given to his sister who smuggled it into Poland and buried it at a local church.