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TIL that the instrument in Samba music that makes a sound like rubbing a balloon or a McDonalds straw in a cup is a percussion instrument called a cuica.

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Wk0Do TIL A silk top hat is made from hatters' plush, and it is thought that there are no looms capable of producing the traditional material any more; the last looms in Lyon were destroyed by the last owner, Nicholas Smith, after a violent breakup with his brother, Bobby Smith.
mEwv TIL:GM knew alcohol was the best anti-knock additive for gasoline before the invention of lead additives. They purposely used a poison instead, because alcohol was cheap and could not be patented.
rRBNM TIL in 2009 an upset musician who had his $1200 Martin Guitar badly damaged by United Airlines and refused compensation, decided to write a song about it. In 10 days it gained 4 millions views and managed to knock 180 Million off United's Shares. The song was called "United Breaks Guitars".
ADMZo TIL Since both creative people and schizophrenics have fewer D2 receptors in the striatum, researchers suggest that their brains do not filter out as much information as other people’s brains do. For creative people, this means they can come up with solutions and ideas that other people may not.
Ol4e TIL: In 2014 Namibia raised over $350k by auctioning off the right to hunt one endangered black rhino. The rhino was past breeding age and detrimental to the rest of the herd. The money was used to protect endangered animals.