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TIL renowned director Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho, Rear Window) stated one of his favorite movies was Burt Reynolds' Smokey and the Bandit. Hitchcock's daughter confirmed this.

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VMlxB TIL that 90% of the coal we use today only exists because 300 million years ago, microbes that could ingest wood, did not exist, so trees would fall on top of each other, and the weight of all that heavy wood, over millions of years, would compress those trees into peat and then, into coal.
Eg0Q0 TIL in 2011, a man died as a result of inserting his penis in a bottle. Apparently, this was the first case of death related to penile strangulation ever recorded.
EgMrx TIL: A study of autopsy results found the mean age of death for tattooed persons was 39 years, compared with 53 years for non-tattooed persons. The presence of any tattoo was more significant than the content of the tattoo.
GYvnG TIL the US has been monitoring its own citizens since World War 1.
woYG1 TIL that J. M. Barrie "invented" the name Wendy in his novel Peter Pan. Although it saw some minor use a a nickname for centuries, as a given name it was only popularized by the novel. Barry was inspired by his friend's daughter, who called him her "fwiendy-wendy", as she could not pronounce "r's".