› added 8 years ago

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TIL German man Oskar Speck kayaked from Germany to Australia over the period 1932-1939. On his arrival in Australia, shortly after the start of WWII, Speck was interned as an enemy foreigner. He remained in prisoner-of-war camps for the duration of the war, but stayed in the country after the war

6EJYQ TIL Joan of Arc wanted to fight the Hussites, a Czech-based Christian sect deemed "heretical" by the Catholic Church. In a letter to the Hussites, she said that were she not busy fighting the English, she would march to Bohemia to relieve the Hussites "of either their heresy or their lives."
W7ED9 TIL of "The Dip", a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and hydrogen peroxide used to clean lead off of suppressors and other firearm parts. The resulting chemical reaction dissolves the lead into lead acetate, which can cause lead poisoning from simple contact with the dermis (skin).
W7EX8 TIL in Japan you can rent a Super Mario go kart and drive through the streets of Tokyo, whilst dressed as Super Mario characters.
4kdLb TIL By the 13th century, thou became the informal “you” and ye became the formal “you,” making it similar to the French vous/tu distinction. The separation of the two “you”s remained until at least the 17th century
R7PD8 TIL in 1740, a mother, annoyed that her son would play immature pranks on people wrote “All his talents lie in things only natural in boys of fifteen years old, and he is about two and fifty; to get people into his garden and wet them, and put things in their beds to make them itch”