› added 9 years ago

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TIL that while awaiting sentencing for income tax evasion and obstruction of justice, David Friedland went scuba diving, faked his own death, and fled to the Maldives where he built a chain of scuba diving shops, the success of which helped him get caught.

8e1VZ TIL that in 1985 an Army supply clerk at Fort Carson, Colorado accidentally ordered a $28,000 anchor instead of a $6 lamp due to mistyping the requisition number. Nobody in the supply chain asked why a mechanized unit needed a 10 ton anchor until it arrived.
69gwZ TIL 50% of the world population will have myopia by 2050, and in China already 80% of teenagers and young adults are afflicted. Myopia significantly increases the risk of blindness later on in life. They still don't quite now exactly what causes it.
1a7G7 TIL that the Soviets used mobile gas chamber vans to execute groups of counter-revolutionaries during The Great Purge of the 1930's
eoO6 TIL Legend says King Christian X of Denmark told a German sentry that a Nazi flag had to be taken down. After refusal, the King said he would send a Danish solider to remove it. The sentry said the soldier would be shot. The King replied, “The Danish soldier will be me.” The flag was removed.
Br7Nd TIl there is a bank in northen Italy that still accepts parmesan cheese as collatarel for loans, they have a inventory with over 17,000 tons of parmesan, valued over $200 million. Their vaults has been robbed 3 times. The name is Bank Credito Emiliano.