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TIL that in 1965, Randy Gardner stayed awake for 11 days and 24 minutes. It still holds the record for the longest, non-drug induced, attempt at staying awake

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R5Zd1 TIL that the NFL team the Buffalo Bills were in fact named after Buffalo Bill, the wild west showman/cowboy/buffalo hunter. I know it was probably obvious.
4k8Lg TIL a grey parrot Alex was studied for decades & found to have object permanence, understood zero, estimated numbers, knew colors & shapes, assessed object differences, was the only non-human to ask questions, had the intelligence of a 5yo & at death said "You be good, I love you. See you tomorrow."
YpgK7 TIL: Aleksandr Karelin, the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time, who won 3 Olympic golds, 12 European Championships and 9 World Championships. His PhD was devoted to countermeasures against suplex throws. He suffered 2 losses, one of which was against a Wyomingite farmer who wrestled cows.
yQ8RM TIL the shot in Jurassic Park where the cup of water vibrates, heralding the arrival of the T-Rex, was actually an extremely difficult shot to get right. They eventually got it by feeding a guitar string through the car, down to the ground and someone plucked a specific chord to get the effect.
W7Qjo TIL That pigeons can distinguish between the works of Picasso and Monet