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TIL M. Night Shyamalan once watched Nickelodeon kid show ‘Are You Afraid Of The Dark?’, and particularly enjoyed an episode called “The Tale of the Dream Girl”, which is about a kid who can communicate with the dead. The episode would influence him to write the screenplay for The Sixth Sense.

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6mwJ TIL a researcher in the 1970s blindfolded participants and told them they were going to play tug-of-war against another team. When they were told they had 3 others pulling with them, they pulled 18% less strenuously than when they were told they were alone. The effect is now known as social loafing.
gXxD TIL that Brazil has twice authorized illegal, local production of patented HIV/AIDS drugs in order to save the lives of its people.
b9R1a TIL there is a machine called a ballast cleaner. It's sole purpose is to wash stones on railway lines. In the UK, one operator's ballast cleaner washes around 1.6km of stones every night.
v10Zx TIL Beretta, a popular firearms company based in Italy, is thought to be one of the oldest businesses still operating today. They predate Isaac Newton by over 100 years, and have been family owned since their inception.
v15K4 TIL that old or worn US flags are burned.