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TIL that in 1915, scam artist Charles Hatfield convinced the town of San Diego that he could create rainfall using a secret mix of chemicals. The city offered to pay him $10,000 if he could end their drought, and the ‘result,’ a few days later, was the town’s worst flood of the 20th century.

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ADPed TIL in "Goodfellas", Robert DeNiro learned details about the real Jimmy Burke. He found that Jimmy loved ketchup, and how he poured it-because dispensing ketchup out of a glass bottle was a common problem then. The "spin" technique is what he used in the film, the way the real Jimmy did.
4DLN TIL that in the USA, the deadliest job is logging, followed by fishing. Taxi drivers are the most likely to be murdered, more than twice as likely than cops.
OGE1 TIL that in Arabic, Homer Simpson is called “Omar Shamshoon”. His beer is soda,he’s given up bacon and the donut-shaped snacks he gobbles are the traditional Arab cookies called kahk.
5Vnbp TIL According to his widow, Constanze, Mozart received the commission for composing his Requiem from a mysterious messenger who did not reveal the commissioner's identity, and that Mozart came to believe that he was writing the requiem for his own funeral.
Gb5G TIL in 2006, a bank manager in China stole $26,000 from the bank. His plan was to purchase lottery tickets with the intent of winning enough that he could return the money before the theft was discovered and still have some left over for himself. Despite the odds, his plan succeeded.