› added 9 months ago

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TIL of Yoshie Shiratori, a Japanese man who successfully broke out of 4 different Japanese prisons (once using miso soup to corrode and break his cuffs). After his 4th escape, he encountered a police officer who offered him a cigarette. Touched by this gesture, he willingly turned himself in again.

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05ZA TIL that Foster the People’s ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ is under a radio ban on many stations after the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting
KYQK6 TIL that on April 5, 1933, Roosevelt ordered all gold coins and gold certificates in denominations of more than $100 turned in for other money. It required all persons to deliver all gold coin, gold bullion and gold certificates owned by them to the Federal Reserve by May 1 for the set price of $20.
loaZ5 TIL for years the Catholic Church has been trying to boycott Girl Scout Cookies & the Girl Scouts of America.
grOEy TIL The Hale telescope features a 200 inch (5.08m) diameter mirror. The mirror took 10 months anneal and was delivered to Caltech in 1936. The telescope was completed in 1948 as it took years of grinding and polishing to make the mirror accurate to 2/1,000,000ths of an inch of a perfect paraboloid.
BrMJe TIL how Samuel Clements chose his pen name. He used to be a Riverboat Pilot in Hannibal, MO. It was common to have a crew member throw a line out from the front of the boat to measure the depth shouting “Mark Twain” if it was a safe depth. A Mark is the same as a Fathom (6 feet) and Twain means 2.