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TIL in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, orphanages would fill trains up with orphans. These trains would stop to have prospective parents evaluate the children for adoption.

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QMaM TIL Googlewhacking is a challenge/activity where you enter two words in the search bar for Google and try to end up with only one search result. There are over 482,000 googlewhacks recorded.
l7BgN TIL about Ball Lightning, a phenomenon in which people observe glowing balls of floating light. Observations of it go back to 1195 and have been witnessed by individuals all over the world
M4GV TIL in 2005, a woman performing her first solo skydive jump of 10000 ft survived a parachute malfunction which caused her to slam face first into a parking lot at 50 MPH. During surgery doctors discovered she was pregnant. She made a full recovery and the baby was fine.
R5ZD6 TIL Joseph Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' was published to little fanfare and was nearly forgotten. However by the 1960s it had had been analysed more than any other work of literature that is studied in universities. It would serve as the basis for the movie 'Apocalypse Now', revered as a classic
QJ9wa TIL After Germany's surrender in WWI, and the subsequent limitations on their aircraft industry, Anthony Fokker moved his factory to West Virginia.