› added 10 years ago

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TIL that cheetahs were almost wiped out by the last ice-age, and all modern cheetahs are descended from a small portion of the surviving cats that interbred to maintain their species. Because of this, cheetahs are practically genetic clones of one another.

dOj7 TIL A study sent 12 fake patients to psychiatric hospitals and all but 1 were diagnosed with schizophrenia. After publication, an offended hospital challenged the author to fool them. He agreed. Hospital then diagnosed 21% of incoming patients as fakes. In reality, he sent no patients at all.
l7JKV TIL that George H.W. Bush thought about naming Clint Eastwood as his running mate.
MaZb TIL WWI Canadian ace William Barker passed out twice during a dogfight with a German squadron, once after being shot through both legs, and again after having his left elbow shattered. Despite being outnumbered and badly injured, he shot down four enemy planes, escaped, and survived crash landing.
W7GGY TIL Tarantino created the part of Jules in Pulp Fiction for Laurence Fishburne but he turned it down. This created a butterfly effect that actually made Samuel L Jackson get the part in Die Hard 3 which also written for Fishburne
0wDry TIl about Henry Starr a western outlaw and bank robber who was convicted of murder of a us Marshall but was eventually pardoned and went on to play himself in his own biopic A Debtor to The Law. Two years after the movie was released he was killed by a bank manager during a robbery