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TIL: In 2005, a group of MIT students wrote a program, SCIgen, to generate fake academic papers, with 16 published by Springer and over 100 by IEEE. These papers were presented over 30 conferences between 2008 and 2013.

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8egNV TIL: Surgeons in ancient India, around 600 BCE, performed cataract surgeries using a curved needle to remove the cloudy lens. The procedure was described by the physician Sushruta in his medical texts, making it one of the earliest known surgical practices in human history.
AZb4 TIL C.S. Lewis had two requirements for a film adaptation of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”: It should not be live-action, and Disney should not be involved.
7Jwx TIL when John Carmack was 14, he broke into a school to steal Apple II computers. Carmack concocted a sticky substance of Thermite mixed with Vaseline that melted through the windows. However, an accomplice set off an alarm & alerted police. Carmack was then sentenced to a year in a juvenile home.
9wRDm TIL that the movie “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut” was supposed to be rated NC-17 due to excessive profanity, with the word “fuck” being used 146 times alone. The MPAA said that 400 or more swear words would get the NC-17 rating, so Matt Stone and Trey Parker cut the number in script to 399
N7ZJ1 TIL The Phoenix Zoo and the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society of London (now Fauna and Flora International), with financial help from the World Wildlife Fund, are credited with saving the Arabian oryx from extinction.Starting with 9 animals and now estimated more than 8,000 Arabian oryx's.