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TIL Chinese businessman hired a hitman to "take out" his competitor. But the hitman hired another man to do the job — forging a five-man-deep chain of bumbling subcontractors. The plan crumbled when the final hitman met the man, named only as Wei, in a cafe and proposed faking his death.

neR4o TIL In 2014, the UK based EIA (Environmental Investigation Agency) named Rakuten as “the world’s biggest online retailer of whale meat and elephant ivory, calling on the company to stop selling the items.”
nelwP TIL In 2000, "Take Me To The River" was used in the popular animatronic singing toy "Big Mouth Billy Bass". According to Teenie Hodges, he made more money in royalties from that version than from any previous versions
mgwp TIL that a soft drink company made a soda containing lithium called “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda”. Later, the company changed the name to the much simpler “7up” after Lithium’s atomic mass.
kOO11 TIL during the 51 day siege by the FBI on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, the FBI used sleep deprivation to try to force the suspects out. This included around the clock broadcasts of jet planes, screams from rabbits being slaughtered and “These boots were made for walking”
9Yx4X TIL Stephen Hawking liked "The Theory Of Everything" so much that he allowed the filmmakers to use his trademarked computerized voice on it. He called the film "broadly true" and emailed the filmmakers that there were certain points when he thought he was watching himself, which left him tearful.