› added 10 years ago

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TIL that Andrew Wakefield, a former British doctor known for his fraudulent claim that vaccines cause autism, bribed small children for samples of their blood. This was done at his son’s birthday party without consent from the children’s parents.

Read more news.bbc.co.uk

via reddit.com

awAWM TIL a student tried to write his killer's name in his own blood after he was stabbed 86 times by a love rival he knew through an internet war games site
9OOB TIL there was a fake French reality show in the style of the Milgram experiment, which made real and unwitting contestants shock someone on TV. 80% of them kept shocking the person (who was just an actor), even after he cried out for them to stop. 60% shocked him till he appeared to die.
VMg0k TIL one of Frank Abagnale's first cons included, disguising as a security guard, hanging a sign above a bank drop box that read, "Out of service, leave deposit with security guard". Later he commented how he could not believe it worked, "How can a drop box be out of service?"
NAO1 TIL the first credit card, issued in 1949 and made out of cardboard, was Diners Club. Co-founder Frank McNamara was dining with clients and realized he forgot his wallet. His wife paid the tab, and McNamara thought of a multipurpose charge card as a way to avoid similar embarrassments in the future.
OoLwe TIL about Arthur Della Maddalena, an Australian miner who took part in an asbestos shoveling competition. All participants of the competition later died of asbestos related illnesses except for Maddalena, who also won the competition.