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TIL the game of checkers dates as far back as 3,000 BCE, with boards and pieces having been found in the ancient city of Ur. Checkers artifacts have also been found in ancient Egypt, dating back to 600 BCE.

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N7lJP TIL about the Great Stork Derby, a contest held by a Toronto financier and practical joker which bequeathed the residue of his significant estate to the woman in Toronto who could produce the most children in the decade following his death. Two women won and were each given $1.91m in today's dollars
WkYe8 TIL that Hauska Castle has been constructed over a large hole in the ground that is allegedly a “gateway to Hell”. Legend has it that when construction began in the castle, all of the inmates that were sentenced to death were offered a pardon if they consented to be lowered by rope into the hole.
v4LR TIL - “Wierd” Al Yankovic was Valedictorian of his senior class, where he also founded the Volcano Worshippers club, “which did absolutely nothing. We started the club just to get an extra picture of ourselves in the yearbook.”
9REG TIL Australia is moving so fast that they plan to adopt a moving GPS system by 2020 to compensate for the changes
nexOW TIL after Stalin's son Yakov, failed suicide attempt in his room via firearm. He missed his heart and hit his lung instead; while his stepmother Alliluyeva tended to his wound and called the doctor, Stalin is quoted as saying, "He can't even shoot straight".