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TIL that Helen Keller's family forbade her from marrying her fiancé, Peter Fagan, an ex-newspaper reporter who was working as her secretary, because of her disabilities. And society of her time believed women with disabilities shouldn't experience romance of any kind.

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Rn78 TIL If North Dakota seceded from the Union, it would be the world’s third strongest nuclear power.
1abb8 TIL that conditions in Louisiana's infamous "Parchman Farm" prison were so bad that in 1952 thirty six prisoners severed their own Achilles tendons out of despair
R5Mg8 TIL actor Brian Dennehy, who played Sheriff Will Teasle in “Rambo: First Blood”, lied about serving in Vietnam, and being wounded in combat more than once. Though he was a Marine for four years, he was never in combat during the Vietnam War, a fallacy he admitted in 1998.
KYrJ9 TIL in 1906 con man Wilhelm Voigt posed as a Prussian military officer and took a group of troops by train to the town of Köpenick, arresting the mayor and stealing 4000 German marks. He was viewed as a folk hero and the Kaiser later pardoned him. A statue of him stands outside the city hall.
OGBoX TIL that the German battleship Tirpitz's route along Norway can still be traced by trees along the coast that were damaged by artificial fog.