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TIL that Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter (pictured) drew artistic inspiration from hallucinations that he experienced while taking psychedelic drugs in a program covertly sponsored by the CIA

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wMvM TIL that Belarus is the last country in Europe that still uses the death penalty. The convicts are shot in the back of the head with a silenced PB-9 pistol. The whole procedure, starting with the announcement about denied appeals and ending with the gunshot, lasts no longer than two minutes.
8aVLZ TIL of the death of Don Henry and Keven Ives, who were hit by a train as they lay on the tracks. The deaths were initially ruled an accident as a result of the boys sleeping on the tracks due to marijuana intoxication. The cause of death was changed to "definite homicide" after a second autopsy.
oRoPK TIL Due to the difficulty of obtaining life insurance for astronauts, crews of the Apollo program devised a plan of signing hundreds of postcards before their missions. Their families would sell the covers in the event of their demise
YREv TIL that the last meal is based on a superstition from pre-modern Europe. By accepting the last meal, the condemned was believed to forgive the executioner, the judge, and witness(es). This would prevent the condemned from returning as a ghost to haunt those responsible for their killing.
mvNx TIL In Qatar there is a sport called Robot Camel Racing where robots are placed on top of the camels are operated by a joystick, using the right hand to crack whips and the left to pull on the reins. by law they are the only jockeys allowed in Qatar.