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TIL Hugh Hefner’s father, a public accountant, turned him down when he needed money to start Playboy as he did not think the magazine was a good business investment. However, as he was about to leave, his mother took him aside and gave him a $1000 cheque from her savings to help his venture

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9d9M TIL - There is a ghost town in northern British Columbia, Canada that was abandoned almost overnight in 1983. Everything is still there and the power is still on. The whole town was purchased by an American who wants to turn it into a resort for intellectuals.
W7ypY TIL there is a meditative practice that people do called Sungazing. It's where people stare directly at the sun in hopes of clearing their mind and becoming more focused. But there is no scientific research to support these claims and staring at the sun can lead to blindness in the worst cases.
j76E TIL there’s a Darth Vader sculpture on the Washington National Cathedral
8004 TIL that 22% of men and 30% of women in Eastern Congo report being victims of conflict-related sexual violence, and that 97% of the NGOs working in that field don’t even mention male victims in any of their literature.
5V7nP TIL the area around Palm Springs, California, one of the hottest, driest places on earth, is sitting on over 100 years worth of water even if they did not receive another drop from any other source. It's 13,000 feet deep and has enough to supply 83 million people a year, yet only 436,000 live there.