› added 8 years ago

94

TIL of Dr. Liviu Librescu, Romanian-born Holocaust survivor and scientist. During the Virginia Tech massacre, he survived being shot through a door five times while aiding students in escaping the gunman. He later died of his injuries and was awarded Romania’s highest civilian honor.

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xvYB TIL that in a duel Andrew Jackson let a man get a free first shot so he could take his time on his own shot. He was hit in the chest but still managed to return fire and kill the man.
yQG8w TIL that the original Volkswagon Beetle would temporarily float on water because of a sealed steel bottom with nothing exposed beneath it. Volkswagen even created a 1972 television commercial which demonstrated its ability to float. It sold for $1999 US dollars (roughly equivalent to 12k today).
NXYn6 TIL about Prototaxites, an exctinct genus of fungi that lived around 400 million years ago. They could rich 1m (3 ft) in width and 8m (26 ft) in length, making them by far the largest land-dwelling organism of their time.
d8W7Z TIL that Icelanders look down upon public officials mentioning God in speech. Its use on national tv once horrified viewers, inciting fear of societal collapse rather than optimism.
d8vGj TIL: The Cheka, the soviet secret police would skin people alive, have people tied to planks and then pushed slowly into furnaces or tanks of boiling water, children as young as 8 would be executed.