› added 10 months ago

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TIL about Moe Berg, a baseball player who learned 7 languages from Princeton and a law degree from Columbia. He worked as a spy in Europe during WW2, and was ordered to attend a lecture by Heisenberg and shoot him if he determined the Germans were close to the bomb. He determined that they were not.

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6E6Nw TIL of Henry “Box” Brown. A slave who escaped the slave state by mailing himself in a 3 foot X 2 foot X 8 inches deep box from Virginia to Philadelphia. The journey took 27 hours and he had a little water and some biscuits as food. Brown became a prolific Anti Slavery speaker
jyGX TIL since sunfish are susceptible to skin parasites, they sometimes break the surface of the water with its dorsal fin and beak to attract the attention of a gull or similar seabird. The seabird will then dig worms and other stubborn parasites out of the fish’s skin.
819a TIL in an Ontario, Canada POW camp during WWII, many German naval officers desired to stay for the duration of the war as they were gardens, tennis courts, a swimming pool, and they were even allowed to buy beer, cigarettes and dry goods from a mail-order catalogue.
rNOZ1 TIL Ken Jennings and his friend Earl both passed the Jeopardy auditions together, but Earl couldn't compete until Ken lost as they weren't allowed to compete at the same time. Since Jeopardy only keeps auditions until the end of the season, Earl didn't get a chance to play due to Ken's long streak
OWpR TIL In Japan, if someone is photographed or filmed while handcuffed, their hands have to be pixelated if it is used on TV or in the newspapers. In France, a law prohibits media from airing images of people in handcuffs, or otherwise restrained, before they have been convicted by a court.