› added 3 years ago

95

TIL due to a lack of access, prisoners turn to libraries to keep up with the outside world

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XErNk TIL of Cpt. Burris, who during WWII got a 15,000 man German Panzer Corps to surrender to him and 2 men. The Americans were told to let the Russians make the final push into Berlin for political reasons. Instead Burris drove in with just a jeep and 2 men and convinced the German's it was over.
vnvx TIL that electric cars and cabs were quite common in 1909, had a range of over 100 miles, had charging stations every few blocks in NY, were quite popular with women, and people would wait for an electric cab instead of taking a gasoline cab
jNwKN TIL that cement is the most widely used material in existence and the most-used resource in the world, second only to water.
9wrop TIL that Wilhem Keital, chief of the German high command during WW2, was an uncle of Katherine Oppenheimer. This would make him the uncle in law of Robert Oppenheimer.
Pk4n TIL that despite dying in 1976, billionaire Howard Hughes (THE AVIATOR) had no living will and his estate was not fully dispersed until 2010, 34 years later