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TIL shortly after George H. W. Bush vomited and fainted at a meeting with the Japanese Prime minister in 1992, a man named James Edward Smith, called CNN posing as the president's physician claiming Bush had died. CNN was within seconds of publishing the story, but stopped the anchor mid sentence.

ep66D TIL Luis "The Beast" Garavita, the world's most prolific serial killer, was sentenced to 1853 years in prison for the deaths of 193 children in Colombia, but his sentence was reduced to 22 years after he helped the police find many of the victims' bodies. He becomes eligible for parole this year.
e0Ak5 TIL that plants respond to stimuli as intelligent beings. When researchers played an audiotrack of caterpillars munching on leaves, plants secreted chemicals to make their own leaves more resistant. They can also sense gravity and the presence of water, and produce their own neurotransmitters.
v1108 TIL there is a place in California named "Slab City" where squatters and artists live with no laws, no water, and no electricity. It is called, "The Last Free Place in America".
0dOWv TIL that restaurateur Guy Fieri was born with the last name “Ferry” - but later changed it to “Fieri” in memory of his paternal grandfather, Giuseppe Fieri, an Italian immigrant who had anglicized his surname to Ferry upon arriving in the United States.
gMp1A TIL of Belphegor, one of the seven princes of Hell who helps people make discoveries and gives them brilliant ideas for inventions to make them rich. He is also Hell's Ambassador for France.