› added 1 year ago

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TIL that after the Allies invaded North Africa in WW2, the Germans planned to use the powerful French navy to counterattack. The occupied French responded by scuttling their own fleet, destroying 77 ships and damaging many more. Ships burned for days, and the harbor was heavily polluted for years.

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loK9K TIL a Swedish mathematician (Arne Beurling) single-handedly deciphered and reverse engineered an early version of the secret German communication system in WWII. This early system is considered more difficult than the later Enigma system deciphered by Alan Turing.
bAka TIL that metals such as iron, copper, gold, and even uranium require running water to become concentrated into ore deposits through a process called ore genesis.
44QN TIL that at 92 years of age Kevin Bacon’s dad rode a skateboard in love park in protest of the city banning skaters from the park that he had designed.
Z8Kao TIL one in 5000 babies is born without a butt hole, called Imperforate Anus, which has to be fixed surgically by the hospital.
xVQ5 TIL Liza Minnelli accepted the role of “Lucille 2” in ‘Arrested Development’ only because it was Ron Howard who had asked her personally; Liza Minnelli babysat Ron Howard when he was a little kid.