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TIL that LaMarcus Thompson, the father of the American roller coaster, invented the first coasters on Coney Island because he thought the world was too sinful and needed more moral entertainment

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d8ea9 TIL: The baby thief Georgia Tann was allowed to operate a black market adoption agency in the US for nearly 30 years. She stole nearly 5000 kids from poor families and adopted them out to rich families. This went on until her death in 1950.
LZ5m TIL that during the Cambodian massacres, Khmer Rouge tricked intellectuals working/exiled abroad by asking them to come back to rebuild Cambodia. When the special plane sent to collect them arrived,they were killed.
kmWW TIL: To prove anti-minority bias, a white NYC prosecutor tried to get himself arrested by graffiti-ing City Hall … and it took five days of confessions and blogging before they arrested him.
v1WV8 TIL about the European Green Belt, an area stretching from Finland to Albania that has a unique ecological wildlife due limited human involvement as it also was the iron curtain border for 50 years.
Z8Q6B TIL there are over 70 cats living in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. They are quite celebrities - not only films have been made about them but there's also a festival and a holiday dedicated to them.