› added 8 years ago

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TIL the kindness of the allied forces accidentally killed some Holocaust survivors. Upon being liberated, the soldiers brought food to the severely emaciated survivors. The problem is people who are that emaciated can’t handle large amounts of food so quickly. It ended up killing them.

R7mw4 TIL in 1954 the obninsk nuclear power plant near Moscow was connected to the electrical grid, becoming the world's first nuclear power plant to produce electricity industrially.
AOw4 TIL of the “Night-Witches,” a Russian regiment of all-female aviators during WWII. Despite only flying slow, obsolete planes, the regiment is said to have dropped over 3,000 tons of bombs and each pilot to have flown over 1,000 missions.
AVKw TIL that in North Korea, since every political candidate is chosen by the ruling party, there is only one name on a ballot. A voter may cross off the candidate’s name to vote against him, but must do so with a red pen next to the ballot box in sight of electoral officials.
nWNGP TIL When Nevada became a state in 1864 it did not include the southern tip where Las Vegas now is. Arizona claimed that land until Congress rewarded the land to Nevada in 1866 for staying with the Union.
Z8DVG TIL about the “smiley face murder theory”, advanced by two retired NYC detectives, that a series of presumed drownings in Midwestern states were actually victims of a serial killer; the name refers to smiley face graffiti found near locations thought to have been used by the killer to dump bodies.