› added 4 years ago

195

TIL that it's possible to buy random, assorted books "by the foot", for the sake of filling up and decorating otherwise empty bookshelves and libraries, a service typically used by filmmakers and decorators, but also rich people on occasion.

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PYYPL TIL that of the 40,000 penguin chicks born in a colony in Antarctica this season, only 2 survived.
OGLOe TIL that the word "Sideburns" came from the American Civil War Union General, Ambrose Burnside's unusual facial hair. They were originally named "Burnsides", but this was later corrupted to the word "Sideburns" that we know today!
OomWX TIL that Secret Service countersnipers use a custom, high-powered firearm called a JAR, short for "Just Another Rifle". Since the countersniper unit formed in 1971, the unit has never had to fire a JAR to safeguard a person they were assigned to protect.
Qv5M TIL The man who create the bear-proof suit also invented a fireproof paste, a light capable of seeing through walls, the Trojan Ballistics Suit of Armour, and has received the Ig Nobel Prize for Safety Engineering.
KOx0J TIL - professional cutmen in professional fighting make upwards of 15% of the fighters purse and many are worth millions.