› added 7 years ago

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TIL Dennis Hopper went on T.V. and told a story about how Rip Torn pulled a knife on him. Torn sued for defamation and won. Hopper had to pay compensatory but not punitive. Hopper later appealed the ruling. Appellate not only upheld the decision but also made him pay another $475,000 in punitive.

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4XA5a TIL that in 1950, to test the potential impact of a biological attack, the US Navy released a supposedly harmless bacteria over San Francisco, hospitalizing several people and killing one.
Z8lxa TIL The biggest tea drinkers in the world are the East Frisians in the north west of Germany, consuming on average 300 liters (~79 gallons) of tea per person per year.
b9bWZ TIL that some animals, such as penguins and chimpanzees, can sometimes prostitute themselves for pebbles or meat.
QLV6 TIL that there is an island off the coast of Brazil that is so greatly infested with venomous snakes (1-5 snakes per square meter) that the Brazilian navy has quarantined it. It is called ‘Snake Island’.
MeZo8 TIL that the Colombian town of López de Micay is the wettest place in the world, with an average of 315 rainy days a year (the least rainy month is February, with 23 rainy days), and an average of 16000 mm of rainfall annually