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TIL about "The Lexicon of Comicana" by cartoonist Mort Walker, which posits a universal symbols set for comics/cartoons/etc., and written in response to the engagement w/ his 1964 satirical piece "Let's Get Down to Grawlixes". A grawlix (obscenicon) is typographical profanity censorship i.e. $#!7

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ADVM7 TIL: Whistling loud with your fingers (while being a skill that a lot of people think is impossible for them to learn due to mouth/tongue-shape), is actually, probably something that practically anybody can learn, with sufficient practice. Important note: time might vary from minutes to hours/days.
x6y90 TIL The Mercury astronaut candidate examinations involves sensory deprivation test of you being placed in a circular 8 foot deep tank of body temperature water without hallucinating. The normal reaction is for the subconscious mind to take over and one lapses into uncontrollable hallucinations
1NGO TIL Jim Varney’s character, Ernest, was used in more than a reported 4,000 local commercials, sometimes 25 shot per day. Between 1987 and 1990, four indie Ernest movies generated $100 million.
jNAbX TIL Two pigmy whales, a mother and a calf got stranded in a beach unable to navigate back to the ocean past a series of sandbanks. Seeing their plight a dolphin arrived and guided the whales 200 yards along the shoreline and out through a channel into the open sea.
GYWNg TIL of Prize Insurance, which companies buy instead of prizes for competitions. The policy pays out in the unlikely event that somebody wins the competition.