› added 4 years ago

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TIL that the creator of Spongebob, the late Stephen Hillenburg, actually has a species of sponge named after him! Clathria hillenburgi lives in mangroves off the coast of Brazil, and was described in 2019, about a year after Hillenburg's passing.

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via reddit.com

Red1 TIL a study found that people who like randomly generated ‘pseudo-inspirational’ quotes (quotes that don’t mean anything, e.g. “A wet person does not fear the rain”) on social media websites are also more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, alternative medicine and the paranormal.
kxyW TIL 1,300 German Tiger I tanks were produced during WWII. As of June 2013, only 7 tanks remain intact and only one of those tanks are operational, Tank 131. This tank will be featured in the upcoming Brad Pitt film, FURY, the first time an operational Tiger I tank has ever been in film.
6o0Q TIL Chemotherapy drugs to fight cancer were discovered in WW1 where the effects of mustard gas on surviors reduced the amount of rapidly dividing cells like white blood cells. First drug developed based on this research was called Mustine.
4dP5 TIL that “Painting Elephants” are tortured to break their spirit, and then trained to move their trunks in the direction the trainer pulls the elephants’ ears.
69Mnw TIL of Ripton, Massachusetts, a fictitious town created in 1985 by a professor at UMass-Amherst to protest the Boston-based state government's neglect of rural Western Mass towns. He applied and was approved for grants and funding from the state before the hoax was uncovered.