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TIL Millvina Dean was the last and youngest survivor of the Titanic. She was just over 2 months old when the Titanic sank on April 14, 1912. Dean credits her father for her survival. She was one of 706 people — mostly women and children — who survived. Her father was among the 1,517 who died.
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31030935
https://redd.it/1g4jiv1
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TIL Spongebob Squarepants is credited for creating wider awareness of Leif Erikson Day outside the Norwegian-American community
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson_Day?wprov=sfti1#In_popular_culture
https://redd.it/1g42ix8
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TIL that in the Movie "Scream" (1996) there is a section in the credits saying "No Thanks whatsoever to the Santa Rosa city school district governing board" Santa Rosa revoked permissions to film there last minute and cost the production 350,000$
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_%281996_film%29?wprov=sfla1
https://redd.it/1g3z4kp
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TIL during WW2 the Nazis spent the modern day equivalent of 100 million usd to make a underground base in Poland which saw little to no use. Soon after building it they lost the war, and it is now one of the largest bat habitats in Europe.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/former-nazi-defenses-now-home-to-thousands-of-bats/amp/
https://redd.it/1g4hyka
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TIL that up until the 1980s, all major UK banks had to have their head offices within a 10 minute walk of the Bank of England. This was so that in the event of a financial crisis, the heads of each bank could easily be assembled.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-37751599
https://redd.it/1g45c1c
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TIL a supernova occurs roughly every 10 seconds in the observable universe
https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainssupernovae
https://redd.it/1g3mf7p
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Til in 2000, a convicted murderer on death row's execution was denied because he was "too fat to hang"
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna11225694
https://redd.it/1g3acxi
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TIL Over 60 percent of tooth decay involves genetic factors.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4449725/
https://redd.it/1g3m7w8
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TIL in 2007, Hamburg Mannheimer International (HMI), now part of Munich Re, held a party in Budapest with 20 prostitutes to reward 100 of its best salesmen
https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/bunga-bunga-in-budapest-german-insurer-treated-top-agents-to-bathhouse-sex-party-a-763541.html
https://redd.it/1g3dlsl
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TIL during the rescue of Maersk Alabama Captain Phillips from Somali pirates the $30,000 in cash they obtained from the ship went missing, 2 Seal team six members were investigated but never charged. The money was never recovered
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maersk_Alabama_hijacking?wprov=sfti1#Hostage_situation
https://redd.it/1g3f92a
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TIL the lead actor for the very 1st episode of The Twilight Zone is still alive today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Holliman
https://redd.it/1g2yyx5
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TIL that "...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears was heard by Simon Cowell who knew it would be a hit. He offered the writer, Max Martin an Aston Martin if he would give the song to his boy band, Five. Five initially began writing verses; however, Martin had promised the song to Britney.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_(group)#1997%E2%80%931998:_Formation_and_5ive
https://redd.it/1g2wuzp
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TIL 145 Polish pilots, representing some five percent of Fighter Command’s overall strength, claimed 203 German aircraft for the loss of 29 of their number killed in the Battle of Britain. This amounts to 15 percent of the Command’s total score
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/poles-and-czechoslovaks-in-the-battle-of-britain/
https://redd.it/1ftk5na
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TIL that in the year following the famous DB Cooper hijacking at least 14 copycat hijackers tried to reenact the ploy by hijacking Boeing 727 aircraft and demanding ransom and parachutes. Some successfully jumped out but all were captured within days, were shot or surrendered sooner or later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper_copycat_hijackings?wprov=sfla1
https://redd.it/1ftx23e
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TIL that in pre-modern China, poor families adopted girls to make sure their sons will be able to marry in future while other poor families with unwanted girls gave away their daughters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongyangxi
https://redd.it/1fttf4j
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TIL about the village of Chicken, Alaska. In 1902, When the settlement grew large enough to be named, there were many ptarmigan living in the area so this was suggested as the name. However, the spelling could not be agreed on, so they named it "Chicken" instead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken,_Alaska
https://redd.it/1g4foki
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TIL the last Communist leader of East Germany, Egon Krenz, is still alive. He spent 4 years in prison for crimes committed as a high-ranking politician in East Germany. He also still defends the former East Germany, is a Russophile, and believes that the Cold War never ended.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egon_Krenz#Later_life
https://redd.it/1g42u2c
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TIL that the first item ever securely purchased over the Internet was a compact disc of Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales. It sold for $12.48 plus shipping.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Summoner%27s_Tales#cite_note-24
https://redd.it/1g4ck85
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TIL that Glenn Hughes, an American singer who was the original "Leatherman" character in the disco group Village People, was interred wearing his leatherman outfit at Saint Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Hughes_(American_singer)
https://redd.it/1g4dpwv
@r_til
TIL during World War II, US comedian Redd Foxx dodged the draft by eating half a bar of soap before his physical, a trick that resulted in heart palpitations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redd_Foxx#Early_life
https://redd.it/1g496io
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TIL about Strongheart, a male German shepherd who was one of the earliest canine movie stars. Originally trained as a police dog, Strongheart served in the German Red Cross during World War I. Tragically he was burnt in an accident with a hot studio light, dying at age 11 on June 24, 1929.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strongheart
https://redd.it/1g3d292
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TIL that the Panopticon prison design used centrally positioned guards to create the illusion of constant surveillance, ensuring low-cost control over inmates behavior
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panopticon
https://redd.it/1g3na5b
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TIL about the Tiger Keelback snake, one of the very few poisonous-venomous snakes in the World
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/28829-Rhabdophis-tigrinus
https://redd.it/1g3h3yi
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TIL that the native language of the volcanic island Manam Motu has no words for cardinal directions (North, East, West, South). Instead, it uses polar coördinates—with words meaning “towards the volcano”, ”towards the sea”, “clockwise around the volcano”, and “counterclockwise around the volcano”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manam_language#Directional_system_and_spatial_deixis
https://redd.it/1g3denv
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TIL local Cretan resistance in WWII was so great that civilians would attack Axis paratroopers as they were landing with knives, axes, scythes and even their bare hands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretan_resistance
https://redd.it/1g3iihj
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TIL that after the trailer of Grand Theft Auto VI was released, its featured song, Tom Petty's "Love Is a Long Road", saw a near-37,000% increase in Spotify streams, had almost 250,000 searches on Shazam, and ranked second on the worldwide iTunes chart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_VI
https://redd.it/1g2qclt
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TIL that the pope can't be an organ donor
https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/pope-can-no-longer-donate-organs-vatican-idUSTRE7131RL/
https://redd.it/1ftysx9
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Today I learned: That just 2 months after 9/11, another commercial airliner, American Airlines Flight 587, crashed into a NYC neighborhood in Queens after a critical mechanical/piloting failure just minutes after take off. 265 people were killed and several homes were completely destroyed.
https://abc7ny.com/flight-587-vault-eyewitness-news-wabc-archives/11228966/
https://redd.it/1ftgvuv
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TIL that a Winnie The Pooh cast member was on trial in costume and only able to communicate through head nods, foot stomps and swings of his tummy
https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/article/disneyland-winnie-the-pooh-case-17683471.php
https://redd.it/1ftsysf
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TIL that Neanderthals lived in a high-stress environment with high trauma rates, and about 80% died before the age of 40.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal
https://redd.it/1ftvepo
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