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TIL George C. Parker, the conman who fraudulently "sold" the Brooklyn Bridge multiple times, dodged his first prison sentence by grabbing a sheriff's uniform and walking out of the courthouse

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VMeVp TIL the silent P in the word "ptarmigan" has absolutely no reason to be there. The bird's name comes from the Gaelic "tàrmachan" ("croaker"), but in 1684 the Scottish naturalist Robert Sibbald decided to add a p in front to make the word look more Greek.
0K45 TIL that the “Atari Shuffle” was a trick used to get free plays from early coin-op arcade games. The trick involved players shuffling their feet to build a static charge, which could then be used to zap the machine into giving them a free game. (Referenced at 1:02)
d8nmr TIL the U.S. didn’t have a designated presidential security detail until 3 presidents had already been assasinated.
BKNb TIL of a Cynic named Diogenes who had no regard for wealth or honor. He was once sitting outside when Alexander the Great approached and asked if he wanted anything; he replied, “yes, stand a little out of my sun.” The awestruck king said “truly if I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes.”
6ZoY TIL of a substance called “Libyan Desert Glass”; found in the Eastern Sahara and the deserts of Libya, this glass is of unknown origin (possibly from meteoric impacts), and has been found in ancient Egyptian Jewelry such as Tutankhamun’s Pectoral.