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TIL that after becoming associated with the catchphrase “billions and billions,” Carl Sagan had a unit of measurement named after him. One sagan is equal to at least four billion, since the smallest number that may be described as “billions and billions” must be two billion plus two billion.

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8ay9b TIL that the true origin(s) of the phrase "Bleeding-Heart Liberal" was a direct insult to people that opposed lynchings and drafted legislation to be more aggressively against it.
kO6wW TIL MRI studies show that the teenage brain is not an old child brain or a half-baked adult brain; it is a unique entity characterized by changeability and an increase in networking among brain regions
gWl4 TIL From 1995-2004 A caller coaxed McDonald’s managers into strip searching workers and even got the fiancé of one Assistant Manager to order a worker to perform oral sex on him. The story has now been made into a movie called “Compliance.”
nerob TIL in the early 1930s the Irving family on the Isle of Man claimed to be haunted by Gef the Talking Mongoose who would throw stones, ride the bus for the gossip and sing bawdy renditions of "Home on the Range." He described himself as “the fifth dimension...the eighth wonder of the world!”
rNNgd TIL that a mathematical model can explain why we cannot find "aliens": it's likely we are one of the early species able to evolve to this point. If we survive to ourselves, chances are that we will become the "grabby aliens" that we cannot find.