› added 12 years ago

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TIL the man who supervised the construction of the CTV Building, which collapsed in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, faked his engineering degree. 115 people died, over half the total earthquake deaths. Gerald Shirtcliff had stolen the identity of a retired engineer based in the UK, William Fisher.

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KOR74 TIL That during the 50s the Canadian Broadcasting Company Was a Supporter of PoC In The TV Industry. They Gave Sammy Davis Jr. a Half Hour Special to Launch the Show Parade When The Majority of US Stations Wouldn’t
9B9p TIL people with a naturally slow walking speed are 1.5x more likely to develop dementia in later life, compared to fast walkers.
X0nXQ TIL: That there are over 219 million synthetic chemicals, 5000 of which are classified as high-production-volume chemicals
XEg8E TIL A tortoiseshell cat named Towser holds the Guinness World Record for most mice caught at 28,899. She was so famous that a statue was erected of her in the city where she lived, and her paw prints are marked on every bottle of Fairlie’s Light Highland Liqueur.
b9ZPa TIL that the Americans leveled an island in the Philippines to build a concrete battleship, Fort Drum. Captured by the Japanese during WW2, the Americans retook it by pouring gasoline inside and setting it aflame, killing every Japanese soldier inside