› added 6 years ago

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TIL that the last civil war veteran's widow died in 2004 at the age of 97.She married the 81 year old vet in 1927 when she was 21 and he was 81.

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Lbem TIL: A 14 year old girl in the UK was accused of racism by her teacher, and was arrested. She was participating in a group project and her group consisted of several Asian students of whom only one spoke English. She simply wanted to be in a group that spoke English.
jN54n TIL Joe Walsh's Maserati 5000 GT couldn't do 185 (closer to 170) mph, but the top speedometer marking is 300 kph (186 mph). It was impounded by Austrailian authorities after being inspected for the presence of asbestos. Also, each 5000 GT had a custom body so each one is unique. Links in comments.
N7DZM TIL of Joseph Blankson, a Nigerian Contractor who died while saving 13 victims of a boat accident. Blankson swam in and out of a river 13 times to rescue the passengers. Suffering from exhaustion, he drowned on the 14th rescue attempt. He was the only fatality in the accident.
kJVPB TIL that NASA lost a $330m Mars Orbiter in 1999, immediately before mars orbit was achieved, because one of the contracted US companies used imperial units instead of metric.
xVMW7 TIL Ulysses S. Grant invested his own money in his son's firm, but it was not enough to save the firm from failure. Essentially penniless, but compelled by a sense of personal honor, Grant repaid Vanderbilt with his Civil War mementos. The matter left Grant financially destitute.