Post * 0wX0v — Curious Curator

› added 6 years ago

101

TIL of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish special envoy who assisted in saving thousands of Jews from the Holocaust, often singlehandedly pulling Jews from train cars right under the noses and arms of the Nazis.

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KbeJ TIL that while in space astronauts sometimes see random flashes of light caused by cosmic rays hitting the optic nerve. We don’t see it on earth because the magnetosphere protects us from the rays.

BrRAL TIL that an Italian banker, Gilberto Baschiera is considered a modern-day Robin Hood. Over the course of 7 years, he secretly diverted 1 million euros to poorer clients from the wealthy ones so they could qualify for loans. He made no profit and avoided jail in 2018 due to a plea bargain.

WL0X TIL that Paul McCartney introduced Michael Jackson to the benefits of song ownership (publishing rights) as an investment. In 1984 Jackson outbid McCartney and bought the publishing rights to ATV’s 4,000 song catalog which included nearly every Beatles song ever recorded.

Rd56 TIL Landmines planted on the coasts during the Falklands War accidentally created penguin sanctuaries. The penguins are too light to detonate the mines, so they live and breed safely. The sanctuaries are so popular and profitable that there are efforts to prevent removal of the mines.

69pKQ TIL In the 1990s, many computers used two-digit years. To prevent systems from reading "00" as 1900 in the year 2000, governments and companies spent billions updating systems. Thanks to these efforts, major failures in banking, flights, and utilities were avoided.