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TIL that in September 1903, a school opened in Philadelphia that used the phonograph to teach parrots how to speak English, French or German. The school's founder, Mrs. Jacob Hope, launched the school with a record that repeated the phrase "Polly wants a cracker" 1000 times.

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grZNy TIL that, in order to test the effectivenes of their program, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America intentionally left nearly 500 at-risk children on an 18 month long wait list to compare their behaviors to those children placed with a mentor.
Z87bB TIL In 2001 Charles Ingram won the grand prize (£1,000,000) on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” by having a friend in the audience cough on the right answer. He was suspected of cheating, and after review of the recordings the accusation was confirmed. He was charged for deception.
DV4e TIL a man named Robert Wiggen, who spent 3 years in prison, started a website that posts mug shots taken from police department websites and makes them easily searchable on sites like Google and then charges money to have the images removed. His own mug shot is absent from the site.
xZ4g TIL: Dumb people are too dumb to know they are dumb. Same with unfunny people.
4km8g TIL "Ramsar site" is a title designated to wetland areas recognized for their global importance under the Ramsar Convention, also known as 'The Convention on Wetlands.' This international environmental treaty was signed on February 2, 1971, in Ramsar, Iran, under the patronage of UNESCO.