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TIL that in 1976, 3 men kidnapped a bus full of schoolchildren with the goal of ransoming them back for 5 million dollars. They tried to place the ransom call, but the line was busy, and they ended up falling asleep. By the time they woke up, the children had freed themselves and made it to safety.

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AB77 TIL hacker Samy Kamkar created a Myspace virus, which made anyone that looked at his profile automatically become his Myspace friend. It spread at a rate of 1000 accounts becoming his friend every second, resulting in over 1 million friends. Samy was raided by the Secret Service and got probation.
nQ1B TIL that Walt Disney created multiple fake companies (like M.T. Lott Real Estate) to buy Florida land in the 1960s. This let him acquire what is now Disney World while avoiding suspicion and keeping prices low. The stores on Main Street shop windows are the names of those original companies.
P4de TIL, for over 20 years, Cuba has been aiding and treating more than 18,000 children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, for free.
VDnB TIL that, contrary to popular belief, >350 lb President William H. Taft did not get stuck in a White House bathtub. The White House got a tub that was so big a President couldn’t possibly get stuck. A Manhattan company specially crafted the largest solid porcelain tub ever made for an individual.
GoQN TIL Harvard Law School listed a white professor who was 1/32nd cherokee as a minority professor in response to criticisms about a lack of faculty diversity