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TIL Lake Toba is the largest volcanic eruption to have happened in the last 25 million years, and was believed to have killed most of the human race at the time, causing a population bottleneck which affects genetic diversity to this day.

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k6bm TIL James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek) was in the Canadian military and on D-Day killed two snipers and was himself shot 6 times … by friendly fire.
P15XV TIL Russell Crowe turned down an offer to play Aragorn in the LOTR trilogy that included 10% of the backend grosses (which would've been about $100 million). He felt WB had forced Peter Jackson to make the offer & that Jackson had somebody else in mind & he should be allowed to hire who he wants.
ggg7 TIL in 1973 a helicopter landed in Dublin’s Mountjoy prison exercise yard, the guards assumed it was a surprise inspection until three IRA prisoners got in and escaped as a guard, who realized a Jailbreak was happening in front of his eyes, shouted, ‘Close the gates!’
QYBp TIL Ronnie Barrett, creator of the Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle, developed the now famous rifle without any background in engineering or manufacturing. In the last 100 years, Barrett is one of only 7 individuals to have invented firearms adopted by the United States Military.
kOJve TIL a line in the Barenaked Ladies song "If I Had $1000000" inspired fans to pelt Kraft Dinner at the band during concerts. After hundreds of boxes were thrown BNL requested fans cease the Kraft Dinner ritual and donate the food via bins set up in the lobbies of their shows for local food banks.