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TIL Hugh Hefner’s father, a public accountant, turned him down when he needed money to start Playboy as he did not think the magazine was a good business investment. However, as he was about to leave, his mother took him aside and gave him a $1000 cheque from her savings to help his venture

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Br6Ny TIL: The first British jet fighter, the Meteor, killed more British pilots in accidents (450) than the Germans did in the Battle of Britain (407).
wgrW TIL:in 1927, James Dole the “Pineapple King” sponsored the Dole Air Race, putting up a prize of $25,000 for the first airplane to fly from Oakland to Honolulu and $10,000 for second place. Those prizes were won by the only two airplanes to survive the flight. Ten other people died in their attempts.
neAjB TIL The Salton Sea was once a popular resort visited by celebrities, and California's most productive fishery. It became polluted by agricultural runoff, causing large die-offs of birds and fish. It's now drying up, and airborne dust from the exposed lake bed threatens the health of millions.
E1XpV TIL Sum 41 declined a deal to provide a punk cover of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" for Zoolander's gasoline fight scene after watching a screening with the original song as a placeholder. "It’s perfect. You’ll ruin it by us doing a punk version of that."
NmM8 TIL for the film Dogma, Kevin Smith warned Jason Mewes that he needed to be on point due to the involvement of “real actors,” such as Alan Rickman. As a result, Mewes memorized his, and every other character’s dialogue in the screenplay because he “didn’t want to piss off that Rickman dude”.