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TIL that the British government’s advisor on illegal drugs was fired in 2009 after arguing that ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco.

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oBXkR TIL the kid knocking trashcans over in "Friday" was based on an actual kid named Chris who would knock cans over in Ice Cube's neigborhood. However, unlike the kid in the movie, the real Chris never got caught.
m1RYx TIL In the original BBC version of The Office, Ricky Gervais's character David Brent frequently used the double-entendre punch line "as the actress said to the bishop". When the show was adapted for American audiences, the phrase was changed to Steve Carell's memorable "that's what she she said"
M7Okb TIL the day before his Assassination, Julius Ceasar held a dinner party where he was asked what the best way to die would be. He responded that a sudden and unexpected death would be ideal. One of his assassins, Decimus, was sitting right across from him.
0dOgj TIL In 1953, an Australian Army Centurion Mk 3 was placed 500yds from a 9.1kt nuclear test. The tank remained structurally intact; its engine stopped as it ran out of fuel. After refueling & minor repairs, it returned to service & later saw combat in Vietnam, earning the nickname “The Atomic Tank” .
gr9Q7 TIL about the Hoover Dam Tragedy. The project's first recorded fatality was surveyor J.G. Tierney, who drowned on December 20, 1922, while searching for an ideal dam site. Thirteen years to the day, on December 20, 1935, the last man to die during construction was Tierney's son, Patrick W. Tierney.