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TIL a hot dog stand in the center of the Pentagon was rumored to be the target of a Soviet missile strike during the Cold War because the Soviets reportedly thought it was the Pentagon’s most top secret meeting room, and the entire Pentagon was a large fortress built around the hot dog stand.

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via ift.tt

R7D06 TIL: To combat the theft of trees around Christmas time, University of Nebraska-Lincoln used to spray their trees with fox urine. It freezes and has no odor outside, but thaws if taken indoors. The resultant smell is so rancid it is “eye-watering”.
R7kE4 TIL the moon orbits the Earth once every 27.322 days. It also takes approximately 27 days for the moon to rotate once on its axis. As a result, the moon does not seem to be spinning but appears to observers from Earth to be keeping almost perfectly still. Scientists call this synchronous rotation.
xVmyw TIL when the first gene was isolated at Harvard in 1969, "The only reason the news was released to the press was to emphasize its negative aspects," rather than the potential advantages we see today
b6BRj TIL about badge engineering, which is the practice of marketing a vehicle under 2 or more brand names. A good example being the 2010 Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner, & Mazda Tribute, shown here
8a0lX TIL In the USA, if you receive merchandise that you never ordered, be it unsolicited or in excess of an order, you have the legal right to keep the merchandise as a free gift. Furthermore, you have no legal obligation to notify the seller.