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TIL, in 1948, a man wore 30-pound, 3-toed lead shoes and stomped around a Florida beach in the night. The footprints lead people to believe that a 15-foot tall penguin was roaming their lands. He kept up the prank for 10 years, visiting various beaches. The hoax wasn't revealed until 40 years later.

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7y5P TIL That Mormons have a worldwide disaster preparedness network with tons of stored food, a supply distribution chain, and backup communications network. When there is no emergency, they give the food away.
7rQOX TIL when Alexander the Great conquered Persia from Darius III he stole his mother. After kidnapping her, she become to devoted to Alexander, while he referred to her as “mother,” and when called on to mourn Darius III she said “I have only one son [Alexander] and he is king of all Persia.”
LyLr TIL all copies of the film “Nosferatu” were ordered burned by a court due to a lawsuit from the heirs of Bram Stoker, who said the film was an unauthorized adaption of “Dracula” (it was). However, one copy survived the purge, and the film is recognized today as a masterpiece of horror in film.
KO9v4 TIL that dogs evolved the specific muscles that give them the ability to raise their inner eyebrows more than 33,000 years ago; as they became domesticated. It's an evolutionary trick used to manipulate humans.
YpyYB TIL the first "bug bounty program" that rewards users for reporting software bugs was in 1983. The reward was an actual VW Bug.