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TIL cats were a common wedding gift among Vikings due to their association with the goddess of luck, Freyja. Men favored women who loved cats, believing that it increased the likelihood of a happy marriage.

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L88d TIL Billiards is called “Pool” because of horse race poolrooms. In the 1800s betting parlors were called poolrooms, “pool” referring to a collective bet. Billiard tables were installed in poolrooms for people to pass time between races. Eventually the phrase “shooting pool” meant playing billiards.
yVjjM TIL American writer Cormac McCarthy wrote 10 books and an estimated 5 million words on a 1963 Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriter. It sold at auction in 2009 for $254,500. The next day McCarthy received the same model from a friend as a replacement that cost $20.
VnMm TIL that in ‘Tropic Thunder,’ Robert Downey Jr.’s character says “I don’t drop character 'til I’ve done the DVD commentary.” When doing the actual DVD commentary, RDJ does it in the characters Lincoln Osiris and Kirk Lazarus.
WkWmL TIL of a NASA position called the "Planetary Protection Officer", and it is a full-time job defending the Earth from aliens- it has existed since the U.S. signed the Outer Space Treaty in 1967, and pays US$187K a year
5WQk TIL after US Representative Paul Broun stated that “ the sciences of embryology, evolution, and the Big Bang are lies straight from the Pit of Hell”, in the 2012 general election, over 5,000 voters in the 10th District voted for Charles Darwin as a write-in candidate.