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TIL that in 1939 an experiment was conducted at the University of Iowa on orphans in which the purpose was to induce stuttering in otherwise normally speaking children. Dubbed the "monster study", it caused lifelong psychological issues in some of the subjects.

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9ZQM TIL that president George H.W. Bush was once given a 9-foot Komodo dragon as a gift from the Indonesian government. Its name was “Naga”, and it was the largest Komodo dragon in the western hemisphere. He donated it to the Cincinnati Zoo.
4kEma TIL Terry Crews said the reason Fox didn't promote idiocracy was because Mike Judge had companies pay for product placement and then he made them look bad (Starbucks gave out hand-jobs). The film tanked in limited release but made over 20 times its gross domestic box office revenue in DVD rentals.
QJ5GE TIL that in 1987 Matthew Broderick was driving in Ireland in a rental car when he veered onto the wrong side of the road, striking the vehicle of Anna Gallagher, 28 and her mother Margaret Doherty, 63 killing both. His punishment was an $175 fine.
QVgE TIL of the frequency illusion (also known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon),the phenomenon in which people who just learn or notice something start seeing it everywhere.
awkOZ TIL: The "tradition" of spending several months salary on an engagement ring was a marketing campaign created by De Beers in the 1930's. Before WWII, only 10% of engagement rings contained diamonds. By the end of the 20th Century, 80% did.