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174

TIL Hunter S. Thompson terrorized Jack Nicholson on his birthday by playing the sound of a pig being eaten alive by bears and shooting at his house.

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16B8P TIL that 30 years after cocaine was first isolated from the coca plant, it was first tested as an anesthetic. In 1884, Austrian ophthalmologist Karl Koller instilled a 2% solution of cocaine into his own eye and tested its effectiveness by pricking his eye with a needle.
ep0r5 TIL about the Shepard Tone. An audio illusion that creates the feeling of consistent, never-ending rising/falling. The illusion is achieved by playing overlapping notes that are one octave apart. In this way, the sensation of rising or descending notes never ends.
9LdQ TIL Canada’s elite special forces unit JTF2 once earned a US presidential unit citation whilst serving with Task Force K-Bar. Vice admiral Robert Harward, a US Navy SEAL in charge of the task force also stated that the JTF2 team under his command was his first choice for any direct action.
WkyLA TIL that Silvio Berlusconi (ex-Italian prime minister) openly insulted Finnish cuisine. In response; a group of Finnish chefs created a smoked reindeer based pizza, named it after him and won 1st place in the ameria's plate international pizza contest. The Italian-American team only came second.
grjdX TIL that the Pubic Wars was a rivalry between Playboy and Penthouse magazines in the 60s and 70s to gradually show more pubic hair on their models without drawing obscenity charges. The “war” ended when Hustler magazine launched and immediately showed more graphic photographs.