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TIL that NASCAR rose in popularity in 1979 after the first nationally televised race ended with the leaders crashing on the last lap, and then proceeding to fight in the muddied infield grass. With only 3 channels, and much of the the East Coast snowed in, it quickly became nationally known

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Bg4Wd TIL of a belly button bacteria study where 60 belly buttons got sampled and they discovered 2368 different species of bacteria; 1458 of these were new to science. One had a strange bacteria found in Japanese soil and they had never been to Japan. No bacteria was common to all buttons.
6EA7l TIL a man in England accidentally blew up his parents’ house after he knocked on a stove’s control, which burned a clothes basket, which then lit a grocery bag on fire and caused an aerosol can of deodorant to explode, resulting in £20,000 ($26,182) in damages.
LQN6r TIL A Canadian Institute of Technology installed sleep pods in its campus library so students can lie down for a proper sleep if they should need it. However staff sit about 15 feet away and nappers are under video surveillance to prevent more than solo sleepers
vYjD TIL that the number 17 (XVII) was deemed ‘unlucky’ by the Romans and Italians because the Roman numeral was an anagram for VIXI, meaning 'I lived,’ a reference to one’s own death. Thus, Italian buildings do not have a 17th floor and so forth.
DQDOg TIL that Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band were so poor during the recording of Trout Mask Replica that they often had to resort to stealing to feed themselves, one time even getting arrested for doing so; they were bailed out by Frank Zappa.