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TIL of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, an American businessman who died when the RMS Lusitania sank in 1915, after giving his lifejacket to a young mother and her baby. He knew that he could not swim and that there were no other lifeboats available at the time. His body was never recovered.

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JYxYB TIL that over 200 bird species including the Northern Cardinals, wild turkeys and Baltimore Orioles use a method of pest control called "anting." They take an ant in their beak and wipe their tail feathers in order to deter lice. The ants release formic acid that the birds utilize routinely.
1a41X TIL the creators of Fever Pitch had to rewrite the ending - they expected the Red Sox to lose in the playoffs, and wrote the original script accordignly, but the Boston team surprised them by winning the World Series.
b6DP9 TIL hibernation during summer months is called aestivation
xVWok TIL that cicada's wings have an anti-bacterial surface that kills bacteria not by chemicals, but by using a nanopattern made of nano pillars that shreds the bacterial membrane.
6kJX TIL that during the rebuild of the World Trade Centre, a 30-min lunch break actually ran much longer as workers had to wait for elevators to ferry them up and down. To accommodate these workers, Subway created a mobile restaurant that moved up the building as they finished each floor.