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TIL Lenny “Luca Brasi” Montana of The Godfather used to be an arsonist for the mob. He’d tie a kerosene-soaked tampon to a mouse’s tail, light it, and set it loose in a building.

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JYK11 TIL that medieval Iceland had a law against writing love poems to women, they were called "Mansöngr" or "maiden songs." If found guilty you were branded a full outlaw and banned from the island.
yVoAa TIL Psycho (1960) set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in American films, and is widely considered to be the earliest example of the slasher film genre. Hitchock was initially against the music in the shower scene but the composer ignored his direction
BraEd TIL LEGO refuses to make sets that are military themed despite the fact they are forfeiting profits. This is because the company has a policy not to portray war as child's play, they state that they want their play experiences to remain in the "realm of fantasy".
GYQl5 TIL that John Young smuggled an illegal corned beef sandwich on board the Gemini 3 spacecraft in 1965. For this delicious stunt, he was given the first reprimand in NASA space mission history and his snack remains the only contraband sandwich to ever make it into space.
BgRNW TIL while working on a heart rhythm recording device, Wilson Greatbatch mistakenly installed the wrong resistor, causing the device to emit electrical pulses instead - leading to the invention of the implantable pacemaker.