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TIL Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson's grandfather quit drinking "immediately after having a 'religious experience' when he was under the influence of [magic mushrooms]."

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dkMQ TIL the Indonesian Communist Party was once the largest non-governing Communist Party in the world, and was effectively dissolved through a US-supported mass killing of 500,000 of its members.
ZpwEp TIL about spitting spiders, a type of spider that captures prey by shooting liquid silk out of their fangs that congeals on impact. The entire process takes 1/700th of a second.
AoG7 TIL that lab analysis of Mexican Coca Cola shows it contains no sucrose i.e. “real sugar” and instead has a blend of fructose and glucose similar to US coke
DQ1lg TIL amidst early concerns about leaded gas, the engineer who discovered tetraethyllead as an additive demonstrated its 'safety' by pouring it over his hands and inhaling its vapor, stating he could do this every day without issue. He later took a leave of absence due to lead poisoning.
eKj6 TIL In 1988 Ian Mckellen visited Michael Howard, then Environment Secretary, to lobby against Section 28. Howard refused to change his position but did ask him to leave an autograph for his children. McKellen agreed, but wrote, “Fuck off, I’m gay.”