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TIL that a soldier's Zippo lighter, found in the jungle in Vietnam, was returned to its rightful owner 50 years later ahead of Veteran's Day 2021. The Zippo was engraved with the soldiers name, but the two men never met despite being part of the same unit.

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9wDop TIL about ELIZA, a 1960s chatbot created by MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum that simulated a psychotherapist. It was so convincing that some users, including Weizenbaum's secretary, became emotionally attached to it. In 2023, ELIZA even outperformed GPT-3.5 in a Turing test study.
VB6km TIL In 2019 a Japanese University student studying ninja history turned in an essay written in invisible ink. The words only became visible when the paper was heated over a gas stove. Her professor without even revealing the whole essay gave her an A.
R5598 TIL that On 22 June 1947, Holt, Missouri, experienced a world-record rainstorm when 304.8 mm (∼1 ft) of rain fell in 42 minutes.
ANMmB TIL that when returning from space, the Space Shuttle made not one but two sonic booms due to its length, and that most supersonic planes have two, they are just too close together to differentiate by ear.
6EMwQ TIL During breeding season some ants grow wings to fly and procreate with different colonies... then once they're done the wings shed and then grow again next breeding season. However if they are no longer fertile, they won't grow wings ever again.