› added 3 years ago

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TIL that author Lee Child was inspired to name his character Jack Reacher after a shopping trip. An old lady asked for his help in reaching for a can of pears; Child's wife, when seeing this, commented that if his writing career didn't work out, he could 'always get a job as a reacher'.

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5G79 TIL actress Marilu Henner who has a highly unusual type of memory, known as HSAM, which allows her to recall extremely specific details of any day she experienced in her life, has been part of a study that may aid Alzheimer’s research.
GY90J TIL the "Bueller? Bueller?" scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off was ad-libbed. Actor Ben Stein, also an economics writer and former Nixon advisor, rattled off the lecture about tariffs and supply-side economics off the top of his head.
mxJOE TIL John Gotti's 13 year old son was struck by a car and killed when he darted out into a street on a mini motorbike. The driver of the vehicle, a neighbor whose son had previously slept over at the Gotti house, disappeared 5 months later. He was allegedly shot in the head and dissolved in acid
DQYOJ TIL Geese are the oldest known domesticated bird species
VMP8D TIL that there are annual pilgrimages to Central Oregon, USA to visit the last Blockbuster video store in the world.