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TIL that an optical illusion caused due to super light refraction may have prevented the Titanic from spotting the iceberg in time and also the closest freighter SS Californian from identifying the ocean liner when it was sinking

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yQRPJ TIL it was once believed "Crack Babies" did not like to be interacted with and could not learn like normal children. They were not treated like normal children and were given poorer early childhood care and education. When these practices were stopped most of the problems they had went away.
kJ6k5 TIL the book on which the movie "The Exorcist" is based was initially a failure. The author lucked out when he was invited as a last-minute guest on late night show, The Dick Cavett Show. Subsequently, the book hit The New York Times best-seller list and was picked up by Warner Bros for the movie.
JYaBk TIL Half of Earth's oxygen comes from the ocean and not from trees, mainly from phytoplankton.
VMjb8 TIL Wyoming's largest city, Cheyenne, only has a population of 63,235.
JYrmQ TIL: Mexico had a complex legal and racial caste system. Art referred to as "casta" paintings were seen as a way to "codify racial groups"