› added 1 year ago

44

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.

Wk98 TIL George Steinbrenner caught and detained a 16 yr old who was spray painting Yankee Stadium. He then had the kid be batboy for the night leading to a career as a Yankee executive and best selling author.
QJG9d TIL that ‘The Drinking Man’s Diet’ was the 1960s ancestor to Atkins and paleo. It was based on the observation that alcoholics dranks thousands of calories per day and actually lost weight. It became one of the most popular diets of the decade, selling 2.4 million copies. The author lived 98 years.
7rGRX TIL that the founder of T-Series, Gulshan Kumar, was murdered in August 1997 by the Mumbai Organised Crime Syndicate for refusing to pay protection money to them. This exposed the decades old nexus between Mumbai Gangs and Bollywood.
VKYp TIL of the Fukushima 50. During the 2011 earthquake in Japan, 50 workers at the nuclear power plant would not leave even though 750 others had been evacuated. For four days they kept the reactor from melting down until backup arrived, saving countless lives.
0dpZp TIL that tetrodotoxin (TTX), which makes pufferfish poisonous, may not be made by the pufferfish themselves. TTX is produced by marine bacteria in the natural pufferfish food chain, and pufferfish fed TTX-free diets become non-toxic. When TTX is re-introduced to the fish, they become toxic again.