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TIL that for 14 years nobody on Sesame Street would believe Big Bird when he would try to tell them about Mr. Snuffleupagus. After an increase in child abuse cases, producers decided to make him "real" so children could see that adults will believe them when they have something important to say.

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Z8Y9G TIL during the 1992 L.A. riots, police officers asked the accompanying U.S. Marines to cover them while searching a house for a suspect that held his wife and children hostage. Mistaking the statement "cover them" for suppressive fire, the Marines promptly fired 200 rounds into the house.
jN76Q TIL of the once upper class Black community of Sugar Hill, Jacksonville, Florida. Chosen by city officials to be levelled - to build a multi-lane expressway through it during the 1950s and '60s - the community, once known for its elegance, sits devastated, largely boarded up and overgrown today.
9Mwr TIL a man rescued a crocodile and they became inseparable best friends.
XEA8X TIL that chess grandmaster Nigel Short played a series of 8 online chess games against an anonymous user and lost every single game. He believes the anonymous player was the legendary Bobby Fischer, who was living in exile in Iceland and hadn't played professionally in years.
d8EV9 TIL when Charles Dickens was 12 years old, his father was thrown into prison for debt. Charles was forced to leave school and work ten-hour days at a boot factory in order to help support his family. The poor conditions of the working class became a major theme in several of his works.