› added 1 year ago

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TIL Mindy Kaling's brother pretended to be black to increase his odds of getting into Med school

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4XGJ6 TIL That Japan burns a portion of its garbage and uses the resulting ash in land reclamation. As of 2012 Japan has created over 250 square kilometers (96 square miles) of new land using this method.
9nPm TIL in Boston a wife and her unborn child were robbed and killed. The surviving husband gave the vague description of the assailant as “a black man with a husky voice” throwing the city into a police state of racial unrest. It later emerged the white husband killed them for the insurance money.
Z8MWB TIL that as comedian Sam Kinison lay dying from injuries sustained from a drunk driver he began saying, to no one in particular, "I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die." He paused as if listening, then said,"But why?" He paused once more, saying, "Okay, okay, okay," and peacefully passing away.
0j75 TIL then PM of Australia, Ben Chifley, would regularly receive calls on his secret direct line from housewives trying to order meat as the number was similar to the local Butcher’s. Instead of embarrassing the callers, Chifley would take down their orders and pass it onto the Butcher.
BrW4K TIL that the most weight gained for a role was 70 lbs (32 kg), which Vincent D'Onofrio did for Pvt. Leonard Lawrence in "Full Metal Jacket." The role was initially written as a "skinny ignorant redneck," but director Stanley Kubrick felt the character would have more impact if he was big and clumsy.