› added 11 years ago

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TIL a German citizen was mistakenly abducted by the Macedonian police and handed-over to the CIA, who then held him in a black site and interrogated, beat, strip-searched, and sodomized him. When the victim later tried to sue, the case was dismissed as the US government claimed state secrets.

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nWVMb TIL Steven Spielberg was not present for the shooting of the final scene in Jaws because he thought the film crew was going to throw him in the water once the shoot ended. Since then, it has become a tradition for him to be absent when the final scene of one of his films is being shot.
0dd5L TIL film star Kay Kendall's cancer diagnosis was kept from her, she died believing that she was suffering from an iron deficiency
R7Mlw TIL there is rare genetic variation (SNP rs121912617) that allows people to sleep 2 hours less a night with no ill effects.
D47r TIL Jeremy Clarkson’s fondness for wearing jeans has been blamed by some for the decline in sales of denim in the mid-1990s, particularly Levi’s, because of their being associated with middle aged men. This is known as the “Jeremy Clarkson Effect”.
XEvYr TIL of Ching Shih. Originally a prostitute who married a pirate, she ended up commanding a fleet of 20,000-40,000 pirates, battling the Portuguese empire, British empire, and Qing Dynasty at various stages. She married her adopted son, had two children with him and died a free woman at age 69.