TIL The first use of commercial refrigeration was in Australia to keep beer cold. [source, comments]

TIL that cats love eating (human) earwax. Apparently, the proteins in it smell delicious to them. [source, comments]

TIL Mongolia has a traditional type of air dried meat called borts. The meat is usually beef, camel, or goat and is cut into thin strips that are then hung up to dry from November to December when the temperature falls below -16’C over 6 to 7 days. [source, comments]

TIL That the 16th century Swiss alchemist Paracelsus claimed to have created a homunculus (a tiny human) by placing a vial of semen in horse dung, burying the mixture for 40 days, then digging it up and feeding it his blood for another 40 days. [source, comments]

TIL that in the original Grease musical, Sandy was not Australian. When she was cast, Olivia Newton-John agreed to be paid at a lower rate in exchange for rewriting the noscript to make Sandy Australian so she wouldn't need to do an American accent. [source, comments]

TIL in the 1980s, a newly-wed wife realized that her husband's family recipe book was actually the first cookbook ever written in the Korean alphabet, written by a noble named Lady Jang in the 1670s noscriptd "Understanding the Taste of Food" (Eumshikdimibang) [source, comments]

TIL Years ago, when two children were born within 12 months of each other, people called them "Irish twins." When a mom had three kids within three years, they were called "Irish triplets." This was due to a derogatory stereotype of poor Irish Catholic families having lots of kids close together. [source, comments]

TIL: There was a German medical study on Shuriken (ninja stars) wounds. They used pig carcasses while researchers threw a cyclone shuriken, a plastic one, and a traditional one. All 3 were capable of inflicting fatal wounds. This study served to promote discussion on the German shuriken ban of 1980. [source, comments]

TIL that close to half of the US population is projected to have obesity by the year 2030 (article is from 2019) [source, comments]

TIL Half of pregnancies in giant pandas result in twins but the mother chooses the stronger cub and the other one is left to die of starvation. [source, comments]

TIL the Fermi Paradox arose as part of a casual conversation in the 1950s when Enrico Fermi asked "But where is everybody?" referring to extraterrestrial life [source, comments]

TIL Avatar 2 was so expensive to make, a month before its release, James Cameron said it had to be the 4th or 5th highest grossing film in history ($2 billion) just to break even. It's currently the 3rd, having raked in $2.3b. [source, comments]

TIL author Maya Angelou was a friend of Martin Luther King Jr. King was assassinated on her 40th birthday. For many years after she didn't celebrate her birthday only marking the occasion by reaching out to King's widow. [source, comments]

TIL When your body is in ketosis (keto diet) you breathe out acetone. [source, comments]

TIL of "Pizza Crunch Dinner" a common food in Scottish chip shops consisting of a pizza that's deep fried in batter instead of baked and served with salt, vinegar or gravy [source, comments]

TIL of "Hara hachi bun me" the Japanese belief of only eating until 80% full. There is evidence that following this practice leads to a lower body mass index and increased longevity. The world's oldest man followed this diet [source, comments]

TIL One Gallon of Oil Can Contaminate One Million Gallons of Fresh Water [source, comments]

TIL that US President Chester A. Arthur was accused of not being a natural-born citizen because his family moved around a lot when he was growing up. [source, comments]

TIL a 2013 study found that Vietnamese mothers potty train their children by using a whistling sound at certain times to remind them to eliminate & frequently checking for signs of need. With this process, all children used the potty by 9 months old and at 24 months old, the training was complete. [source, comments]

TIL during the Pacific War, American soldiers comitted war crimes by killing surrendering Japanese soldiers and massacring POWs. in 1943, a secret [U.S.] intelligence report noted that only the promise of ice cream and three days leave would induce American troops not to kill surrendering Japanese. [source, comments]

TIL that Ryan Reynolds has opened up about his long struggle with anxiety, revealing that he sometimes copes by adopting his Deadpool persona during interviews. [source, comments]