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TIL ornithologist Helen Hays has lived for six months of the year since 1969 on Great Gull Island (a remote, critical nesting area for migrating birds) to help restore the island's ecosystem for threatened terns. Due to her work on the island, the tern population was successfully recovered.

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D1b1r TIL 2 brothers were filming a documentary about a probationary New York Fire Fighter in 2001. They went on a routine call to check for a gas leak on 9/11 and ended up being the only camera to film the first crash. They followed the FDNY into the Twin Towers and survived.
6DkX TIL in 2014, US law enforcement took $4.5 billion from citizens who were never charged with a crime; more than US burglars stole in the same year
W7pQA TIL: The Idiot Sandwich meme comes from a comedy sketch, and wasn't a real moment from one of his shows
BrO7x TIL that Pacific Bell spent $40 million to put its employees through a training program based on the teachings of Russian mystic George Gurdjieff—to supposedly open their eyes to a "higher-level" consciousness. The program was halted after the Californian utility regulator launched a public inquiry.
WkVjX TIL that elephants are very good swimmers: once an elephant was rescued from the ocean 10 miles off Sri Lanka coast: it got caught in a current off the coast near Kokkilai but it was still swimming