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TIL splenda was discovered when a foreign graduate student was told to test a chlorinated sugar compound. He thought he was asked to “taste” it, so he did. It was later found to be safe to eat.

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W71bA TIL A popular drink in the UK is "beef tea", made by mixing salty meat extract paste (Bovril) into hot water. The meat paste was originally know as 'Johnston's Fluid Beef'.
rRP71 TIL that US Navy Captain Mad Jack Percival holds the unique distinction that his first naval ship, HMS Victory, and his last, USS Constitution, still exist as the oldest commissioned warships and national shrines for their respective nations.
6EGKm TIL due to lash back from a Far Side cartoon where a female chimp finds a human hair on the male she is grooming and says, “Conducting a little ‘research’ with that Jane Goodall tramp?”, Gary Larson now donates all profits from sales of a shirt featuring this cartoon to The Jane Goodall Institute.
wLJVW TIL Wilson's storm petrels, named after the father of American ornithology Alexander Wilson, don’t actually walk on water, but they aim themselves into the wind, hover over an area, and slowly advance while touching their feet to the water’s surface like a bouncing dance as they search for food.
bJPZ TIL Four days after the Hillsborough disaster, in the European Cup semi-final between AC Milan v Real Madrid, the referee blew his whistle two minutes into the game to stop play and hold a minute’s silence for those who lost their lives. Halfway through, AC Milan fans sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.