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TIL about the Gympie Gympie bush (or “Suicide Tree”). It delivers a sting described as “like being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time”. One man was stung and after 3 weeks of agony, was driven “as mad as a cut snake”. Another shot himself after using the leaves as toilet paper.

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dDNv9 TIL Irvin Rosenfeld has received medical marijuana from the government since 1982. He smokes 10-12 joints a day for his bone cancer, and receives a shipment of 300 joints every 25 days. The program was set up by the federal government in 1982 for cancer and glaucoma patients but was later disbanded.
KXVB TIL George Harrison donated a million pounds to help produce Monty Pythons Life of Brian simply because he wanted to see the film
rPrd TIL the producers of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest asked local car salesman Mel Lambert to help them find grotesque-looking locals to play extras. Lambert placed an ad asking “Do You Have a Face That Scares Timberwolves?” Despite subsequent editorials protesting the insult, the ad was a success.
LQ7G9 TIL a German ocean liner built in 1930 survived two Allied sinkings in WW2. Taken as a British prize, it was renamed HMT Empire Windrush. In 1948 it famously carried a large group of West Indians to the UK. The ship caught fire and sank in 1954; all but 4 of the 1498 passengers and crew survived
WVBN TIL that virtually all modern scholars agree that Jesus Christ existed as a historical figure, and that he was 1) baptized by John the baptized and 2) crucified shortly after by order of Pontius Pilate.