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TIL German biologist Stefan Lanka, who believed that measles was a "psychosomatic illness", announced that he would pay 100,000 Euros to anyone who could prove that measles was a virus. German doctor David Barden proved him wrong and Lanka was ordered by the court to pay the money as promised.

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xRaB TIL that a fan theory, that predicted Don Draper would be revealed as the famous Air Pirate D.B. Cooper, gained enough traction that Mad Men series creator Matthew Weiner went on CNN to debunk it
oNPW TIL Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet signed a promise they called the “Giving Pledge”, in which they promised to donate to charity at least half of their wealth over the course of time.
bK69 TIL In 2006, skydiver Michael Holmes jumped out of a plane at 15,000 ft. Wearing a helmet camera, his first chute failed, then his reserve, then he waived good-bye before landing in a blackberry bush and surviving. It was one highest falls on record.
R5jwl TIL Apocalypse Now began script prep in the late 1960s. In 1976, four months into filming, Coppola still hadn’t finished the script and kept delaying Brando’s access to it. He wrote to Brando, asking him to join on set to collaborate on a slow rewrite. Brando and Coppola spent 10 days reshaping it.
VBNvQ TIL Jimi Hendrix hid an 'easter egg' on one of his albums where if you flipped the record speed to 45RPM you could hear what the spooky alien voices in the background were actually saying.