› added 4 years ago

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TIL Raining animals is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which flightless animals fall from the sky. It is now accepted that there is only co-incidental association between animals perceived to be falling from the sky and meteorological or earthquake related phenomena.

WkOQd TIL of the Cokeville Elementary School Hostage Crisis. Where David Young stormed into a school with his wife, armed a bomb, and held 70+ students hostage. After 2 hours the bomb went off, but due to a series of coincidences, all hostages survived. Children later reported seeing angels.
D1Q1J TIL the terms 'well-rounded', 'high-brow', 'low-brow' and 'shrink' actually come from phrenology and scientific racism.
0wNlp TIL in 1967 a man appeared on Jeopardy! intending to win just enough money to buy an engagement ring. He won that amount halfway through and kept his mouth shut from there on. To prevent a recurrence, the rules were changed shortly thereafter, allowing only the winner to keep all his/her winnings.
6EDwJ TIL Salvador Dali was a cheapskate who liked to appear generous to his friends by inviting them to fancy restaurants. When it was time to pay the bill, he would write out a check then doodle a sketch on the reverse, knowing that the restauranteur would never cash a check bearing one of his sketches
R7Jn4 TIL that the white mustache-looking skin above a pigeon's beak is called a wattle, and that it mainly serves to release excess heat from the bird's body. It's actually a trait that many birds have, such as the red piece of skin below a rooster's neck.