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TIL that Fidel Castro recommended to the Kremlin a harder line against Washington, even suggesting the possibility of nuclear strikes. The pressure stopped after Soviet officials gave Castro a briefing on the ecological impact on Cuba of nuclear strikes on the United States

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0woov TIL about the "Shephards tone". An audio illusion which sounds like it is contantly rising when it isn't. It is used in films and video games to add suspense.
x6rLo TIL about Duncraig railway station in Scotland. Opened in 1897, it was supposed to close in 1964 as part of rail network restructuring. However, it reopened in 1976, after local train drivers refused to acknowledge the station's closure for the intervening 11 years. The station is still open today
d8KWQ TIL George Lucas thought Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" would out perform Star Wars so he proposed they trade 2.5% of the profit on each other's films; Spielberg took the trade, and still receives 2.5% of the profits from Star Wars.
OoDo7 TIL that Joe Perry sold his 1959 Gibson Les Paul during his 1982 divorce. Later he found the guitar was owned by Slash. Perry called Slash and bugged him for years, offering to pay more than the guitar's worth. Years later at Joe's 50th birthday party, Slash finally gave him the guitar as a gift.
NXdAJ TIL of the discovery of chemotherapy. During WWII it was discovered that mustard gas reduced white blood cell counts. In the 1940s, two pharmacologists examined the effects of mustard gas in treating lymphoma in mice. They then treated a patient with nonHodgkin's lymphoma with the chemical agent.