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TIL That the Etoro people of New Guinea believe that in order for a boy to achieve manhood they must first ingest the semen of their elders through fellatio. The nearby Kaluli tribe find this barbaric, and instead believe that the semen should be delivered to the boys in the anus.

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loPJr TIL a scientist named Doctor Claire Rind wanted to design a collision-avoidance system for cars, so she made locusts watch Star Wars while monitoring the reactions of their visual systems. A robot was programmed with the data obtained and was able to avoid collisions 91% of the time.
ADbBl TIL Ben Hecht started screenwriting after Herman J. Mankiewicz (Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane) sent him a telegram arguing that "millions are to be grabbed out here, and your only competition is idiots." Hecht became one of the most successful screenwriters of all time with 2 Oscars & 6 nominations.
KDeR TIL in 1970 cannabis was placed in Schedule-1 category of controlled drugs “Temporarily” while the Nixon Administration awaited the Shafer Report, which ended up calling for the immediate end to cannabis prohibition.
m1ZLE TIL there is a song titled "10,000-Year Earworm to Discourage Settlement Near Nuclear Waste Repositories" meant to "convey[] the concept of radiological warning" so "no one will forget it for a significant portion of the lifespan of dangerous radiation at repository sites"
DQ7LD TIL about Red Dog. From 1971 - 1979, an Australian Cattle dog nicknamed "Red Dog" hitched rides all over the Western Australian Outback from truckers and bus drivers. He was even given a bank account at one point.