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TIL the character "Mr. Hankey" from South Park was based on how Trey Parker's father toilet-trained him as a child. Trey said he refused to flush the toilet, so his father told him if he did not flush down his stool, which he called "Mr. Hankey," it would come to life and kill him

R5Z66 TIL the FDA requires sunscreen to remain as effective for three years after it's manufacture
j648X TIL the human body can naturally settle into a sleep-wake cycle of up to 50 hours, when there's no day/night cycle to observe. In 1962 geologist Michel Siffre entered a darkened cave, where he planned to remain for two months tracking time assuming 1 sleep equals one day, but he was off by 2 weeks.
epKyg TIL that, in the 1930's, the only commercial airport serving New York City was in New Jersey. To protest this, NYC Mayor LaGuardia once refused to deplane in NJ because his ticket said "New York City," so they flew him to NYC.
ZOED TIL that in South Africa,2009, an employee of an IT company complained that data would get transferred faster by carrier pigeon than on ASDL. Winston the pigeon armed with 4gb memory stick took two hours to carry the data 60 miles - in the same time the ADSL had sent 4% of the data.
MegvV TIL that George Orwell's use of 2+2=5 as a catchphrase of the dystopian government in his book 1984 is based on Joseph Stalin's use of that equation in propaganda. Soviet posters declared "2 + 2 plus the enthusiasm of the workers = 5" long before Orwell wrote his novel.