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TIL In 1970, the Oregon Highway Division consulted with the US Navy and decided the best way to dispose of a whale carcass was to blow it up with a 1/2 ton of dynamite. The explosion caused blubber to rain down on spectators for over a 1/4 of a mile. A large chunk demolished a car.

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VMKwZ TIL that before 1954, stop signs used to be yellow with black lettering. This was because there was no red dye that would not fade over time. However, by 1954, sign makers began using a fade-resistant porcelain enamel, and it was declared that stop signs would be red with white lettering.
e0BDn TIL Writer Norah Vincent lived as a man for 18 months. She said the experience opened her eyes to the “suffering of men”, namely the pain from a lack of emotional intimacy & weight of being “providers”. Traumatized by the ordeal, she checked herself into a mental health facility after it was over.
oRJKr TIL Whiplash was originally an 18-minute short film that received acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, drawing investors to fund the full length film which cost $3.3 million to make and grossed $49 million at the boxoffice.
VBdrp TIL about the 1956 “Battle of Palmdale” an effort by the US Air Force to destroy an out of control target drone. Two jets fired 208 rockets at the propeller driven drone. Every one missed the target, started fires that burned 1000 acres, damaged homes and destroyed a pickup truck.
E1OXw TIL there's only 8 species of bears in the world: brown bears, Asian black bears, American black bears, sun bears, sloth bears, spectacled bears, polar bears, and giant pandas.