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TIL that the second officer of the Titanic stayed onboard till the end and was trapped underwater until a boiler explosion set him free. Later, he volunteered in WW2 and helped evacuate over 120 men from Dunkirk

Read more encyclopedia-titanica.org

via reddit.com

9YEkp TIL that the current record holder for the tallest pure timber structure in the world is The Mjøstårnet Building, located in Norway. It stands at 85.4 m (280 feet) tall. Buildings having mostly timber structure are called plyscrapers although they are not as tall as steel or concrete skyscrapers.
RxZw TIL Alexandra David-Neel disguised herself as a beggar and crossed a frozen, 19,000ft mtn pass in winter to get into Lhasa, witnessed murders and battles, had to barter for passage with warlords, crossed Mongolia and the Gobi desert, became incredibly ill, and boiled her boots to avoid starvation
xVpmw TIL In Denmark if you are unmarried on your 25th birthday friends play a prank by blasting one with cinnamon. On your 30th birthday the cinnamon gets upgraded to pepper. Danes sometimes add eggs to the mix because it “helps with adhesion.”
PYvvV TIL that although pop cultural references to the 1954 TV show Lassie often includes Timmy falling down a well, Timmy never did fall down a well in the actual show.
GYyQg TIL Redheads are more likely to have anxiety about, and avoid going to, the dentist because the same gene mutation that gives them red hair also makes them 20% more resistant to the effects local anaesthesia.