› added 11 years ago

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TIL in 1970, Hunter S. Thompson ran for sheriff of Aspen against an conservative, ex-military Republican incumbent. Thompson shaved his head totally bald, so he could refer to the competing party, who was sporting a close-cropped crewcut, as ‘my longhaired opponent’ in speeches and interviews.

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awdmN TIL: Patch Adams only agreed to the 1999 film of his namesake because they promised to help build his hospital. None of the profits from the film was ever given to his foundation, and the film was heavily criticised by Patch Adams himself, saying: "I hate that movie."
1oGd TIL Peta Kills About 85% of the Animals They “Save”
9Yk8M TIL That for Black Sabbath's best selling album "Paranoid" the band booked two days in the studio but only used one, recording the entire album in just a few hours.
e0oKJ TIL that there is a tree called the Idiot Fruit tree (Idiospermum australiense) which only occurs in Australia’s Daintree rainforest. It is also known as the green dinosaur due to it dating back over 100 million years.
DQavJ TIL that in The Shawshank Redemption, when Morgan Freeman’s character is asked “why do they call you Red?” and he responds with “maybe it’s because I’m Irish”. It’s because the character in the novel was a red haired Irish man. They cast Freeman for the part but added the line as a joke.