› added 6 years ago

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TIL that Stephen Hillenburg designed the show SpongeBob SquarePants off of a comic he created while studying marine biology to teach kids about creatures that lived in intertidal pools with the main character being “Bob the Sponge”

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via reddit.com

BryeW TIL Terry Pratchet was a huge Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion fan, and based his Discworld book "Snuff" on his dungeon crawling adventures. Additionally, he collaborated with modders in the midst of his battle with Alzheimers. Link is a very interesting article that goes into detail about it all.
xVBVk TIL that there was a cowboy western movie durning the 1930's called The Terror of Tiny Town that had an entirely all dwarf cast.
694g7 Today I learned that Dwayne Johnson's grandfather, Peter Maivia -- in addition to being a legendary wrestler himself -- had a role in "You Only Live Twice" as well as was its stunt co-ordinator.
VRNZ TIL that British scientist James Smithson donated his entire fortune to the United States (worth 1/66th of the entire US budget) to create the Smithsonian Institution despite never having visited the United States. He left no explanation of his motivation.
XWyQ TIL Tom Carvel began selling ice cream out of his truck in 1929. One day he had a flat tire, so he pulled over and began selling his melting ice cream to vacationers driving by. They enjoyed the softer version more than the fully frozen dessert, and the Carvel soft-serve business was born.