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TIL early in his life, poet Lefkadio Hearn was abandonded by his father, then his mother and was adopted by his great aunt. Eventually, she abandoned him as well and send him to live with one of her former maids

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Oygg TIL in 1961 the cost of one GFLOP of computing power was around $1.1 trillion. As of December 2013 it stood at approximately 12 cents.
GYGj7 TIL: In early medieval Europe there were no witch trials. Christian churches taught that magic was not real and belief in its existence was superstition and heresy. Only in the early Renaissance did belief in witchcraft’s actual existence spread widely in Europe, and witch trials began.
j61wR TIL about the Younger Dryas Impact Theory, the idea that 12,800 years ago, the resulting impacts from a comet breaking up over earth's atmosphere would have struck glaciers and ice caps across the globe could have caused the great flood present in many ancient culture's stories/myths
VMQak TIL China has some of the lowest percentages of voluntary organ donors but some of the shortest waiting times for organs because they harvest organs from political prisoners, the marginalized, and executed prisoners.
mxyrY TIL Soviet gymnast Elena Mukhina, widely touted as the next great gymnastics star until 1979. Her coach rushed her recovery from an injury and pressured her to perform a dangerous move (the Thomas salto), which caused her to break her neck, leaving her a lifelong quadriplegic. She died at 46 in 2006