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TIL the Bopal Chemical Disaster in India, where a methyl-isocyanate leak (500 times deadlier than hydrogen cyanide) from a factory killed more than 8000 residents in one night. The MIC leak went undetected due to the factory's earlier removal of the alarm siren in order to not disturb its neighbours

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RWK6 TIL an obsessed fan mailed Bjork a letter bomb containing sulfuric acid with the intention of being “The one person who changed her life the most”. He painted his body and committed suicide on camera, and his 18 hour video journal of this is available on YouTube.
xV5K5 TIL Bill Murray and Harold Ramis clashed during the filming of Groundhog Day. Murray wanted the movie to be more contemplative while Ramis saw it as more of a comedy. After filming was completed the two didn't speak to each other for 21 years, only reconciling shortly before Ramis' death in 2014
ANPRo TIL that deaf children who are heavily exposed to Sign Language in early life will become better readers of written English than those who are not.
VGbZ TIL Ahmad Shah Massoud was an Afghan resistance leader, who in April 2001 warned the European Parliament about a large-scale terrorist attack on U.S. soil being imminent. He was assassinated on September 9, 2001, 2 days before the 9/11 attacks.
VMLbQ TIL that in the movie Noah's Ark, filmed in 1928, the flood scene at the movie's climax was created by actually dumping 600,000 gallons of water onto the set. Three extras drowned and many suffered broken bones. This led to the introduction of safety regulations for movie stunts in 1929.