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TIL R. Norris Williams survived the sinking of the Titanic clinging to an overturned lifeboat. The injuries to his legs were such the doctors aboard rescue ship suggested amputation. He refused and instead went on to recover his faculties and eventually winning the tennis Olympic gold medal in 1924.

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41kJ TIL a fire hydrant in San Francisco that survived the 1906 earthquake and aided fire fighters in saving the Mission district was painted gold in memory of the event.
EgxOW TIL that the list of big banks in 1988 is dominated by Japanese institutions, which captured the first 10 spots and 17 of the top 25.
epV84 TIL in Germany, a Coalition Government that Between The CDU/CSU (Black), the SDP (Red), and the FDP (Yellow) is called a "Germany Coalition" because the party colours match the German Flag
EgKJw TIL the @ sign is called "a snail" in Italian, "a puppy" in Armenian, "a little mouse" in Chinese, "a monkey" in Polish, "a duckling" in Greek, "a worm" in Hungarian, "a little dog" in Russian, "a cinnamon roll" in Swedish, "a strudel" in Hebrew and "rollmops" in Czech
16vJW Today I learned there is a city in Romania named ‘23 August’ after the 1944 royal coup