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TIL German interrogator Hanns Schraff didn't torture his American prisoners during WWII. Instead he would befriend them, take them on walks in the forest or the local zoo, and even allow one to fly a plane. He was so good that prisoners didn't realise they were revealing secret informations.

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XE8vX TIL: The study of the origin of language has frustrated scientists for centuries. Due to the lack of empirical evidence to work with, the Linguistic Society of Paris banned discussion of the topic in 1866 as unproductive, a ban academic linguists observed until the late 20th century.
D1ZND TIL Buster Keaton's famous stunt when a building facade collapses on him, with an open window fitting perfectly around his body, used no trickery. The facade weighed two tonnes, and the mark on the ground telling him exactly where to stand to avoid being crushed was a nail.
E1gw TIL that “Smash” by The Offspring has been certified 6x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, making it the best-selling independent label album of all time.
oB00L TIL about the Akutan Zero (also known as Koga's Zero), a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero that crashed on a small island in Alaska during the Battle of Dutch Harbor, killing its young pilot and giving America an intelligence bonanza
yQVwM TIL Steve Martin has a ringing in his ear called tinnitus, which he received while filming a pistol-shooting scene for the film, Three Amigos in 1986. He was quoted saying, "You just get used to it, or you go insane.”