› added 4 years ago

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TIL of Rusik, a Russian police cat. He was adopted by customs officers and sniffed vehicles and travellers for poached sturgeon roe. Rusik was later hit by a car he had previously found sturgeon in. Police suspected it was a revenge killing, due to how effective Rusik was at uncovering contraband.

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e0NK6 TIL that in the early 2000s, Sony was accused of fuelling conflict in central Africa and exploiting child slaves to obtain minerals for use in the manufacture of Playstations
0wmXv TIL Before filming the gradual marriage fallout in Blue Valentine, Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams prepared by living together in their onscreen home, buying groceries with a budget based on their characters, taking family portraits at Sears, and staging arguments for a month.
eX7E TIL while Machiavelli criticized Christianity and the Church, he also strongly believed in the use of religion as a political tool. He thought that fear of God kept society in order, and that while a leader shouldn’t be too religious himself, he should make his people as religious as possible.
168kX TIL Stephen King used to do so much cocaine that he had to shove gauze in his nose to keep blood from leaking onto his typewriter.
QJVOe TIL The Wild Thornberrys was the first Nicktoon to exclusively use 22 minute stories. Other Nicktoons relied on 10-11 minute stories, using 22 minute stories occasionally. Usually, Nicktoons focused on kids, but after running focus groups, they found kids fixating on the parent-child relationships.