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TIL Concerned about the number of cobras in Delhi, British colonial officials created a bounty, only to discover secret cobra farms created to collect the bounty. When the officials shut down the program the farms released their snakes, meaning they had far more cobras than before they started.

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7rMp TIL women were not the first choice as telephone operators. Prior to September 1, 1878, when a woman named Emma Nutt became the first female operator, boys were the preferred choice. It was soon apparent, however, that boys often insulted and prank customers.
XENOR TIL Steven Spielberg used dungeons and dragons to test the compatibility between cast members in E.T. The original Eliot didn't get the part because the other kids didn't like him.
nWBjB TIL that the idea that people harvest Adrenochrome from humans, subject of a wide-spread conspiracy theory, originated in Hunter S. Thompson's novel "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
5b1p TIL John Lasseter was fired from Disney after pitching a computer animated version of The Brave Little Toaster. He would later go on to work for Pixar and directed a similar and even more successful movie, Toy Story.
7XxX TIL that in 1888, a French newspaper mistakenly published Alfred Nobel’s obituary. It condemned Nobel for his invention of dynamite and labeled him the “merchant of death.” Disconcerted, Nobel set aside his fortune for the creation of the Nobel Prizes, so that he would leave behind a better legacy.