› added 11 years ago

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TIL that the last soldier to surrender after WWII was Hiroo Onoda in 1974. His former commander had to come and personally relieve him because he refused to believe the war was over.

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N7K5P TIL in 1984 David Letterman introduced the world to "Velcro Jumping" by proving that with enough Velcro a man could stick to a wall. And by the 1990s, it had become a favorite pub activity in New Zealand.
x4Dg TIL that 5.5 million people died in a famine under British rule in India. Around the same time, Lord Lytton, the Vice Roy of India was engaged in a fabulous celebration with over 60 000 guests to be wined and fed for the coronation of Queen Victoria as the Empress of India.
9l46 TIL that slaves and serfs made up around three-quarters of the world’s population at the beginning of the 19th century.
baL0 TIL of a goat called Sergeant Bill, who became a Canadian war hero during WWI when he head-butted three soldiers into a trench to avoid an exploding shell.
eaMJ TIL on January 15, 1919, in Boston a large molasses storage tank burst, and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The event has entered local folklore. Residents claimed that on hot summer days, the area still smells of molasses.