› added 9 years ago

59

TIL that a man claimed the only unclaimed habitable area left on earth, Bir Tawil, so that his daughter could be a real princess.

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5Yaxk TIL: Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington, DC, used to be a drawbridge. It hasn't opened since the 60s. Attached to the bridge legs are the operator's office and control room --still present but long-abandoned and sealed shut in 1976.
yV7yl TIL Korean serial killer Kim Sun-ja laced her friend's tea with cyanide, causing her to vomit. She told her friend that she would feel better if she drank more of the beverage, but her friend became suspicious and refused, becoming the only known survivor of 6 poisoning victims from 1986 to 1988
69X5X TIL about the Martyrs of Nowogródek, eleven Catholic nuns who sacrificed their lives to take the place of 120 Polish civilians condemned to die at the hands of Nazi Gestapo. Immediately after they prayed, the Gestapo suddenly released the civilians, & without warning, rounded up & executed the nuns.
gMmvL Today I learned that used tennis balls from Wimbledon are recycled as housing for harvest mice to help them protect them.
8axMG TIL During WWII, there was a unit of Japanese schoolgirls who looked after Kamikaze pilots before they went on suicide missions. Called the Nadeshiko, they were aged between 14-15 and lived and worked on a military base with the men, preparing meals and befriending them before they went to die.