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TIL while Dirk Willems was escaping from a prison across an ice covered pond, a guard noticed him and chased him. The guard ended up breaking the ice and falling into the water, begging for help. Willems turned back and saved him, only for the guard to recapture the prisoner and have him executed

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P1l9E TIL A cypress knee is a distinctive structure forming above the roots of a cypress tree of any of various species of the subfamily Taxodioideae, like the bald cypress. Their function is unknown, but they are generally seen on trees growing in standing water
GYGyG TIL A pod of Killer Whales that desperately needed a young, healthy female had their only young female killed by hemorrhaging in her ear canals as US Navy tested its bombs despite repeated requests by Whale researchers not to do so .Killer Whales are declared Endangered Animals in US
5YO4p TIL that Facebook builds shadow profiles of people who never even signed up. They do this from users who upload their contact books, which includes phone numbers, email addresses, nicknames, photos, addresses, notes, and any other info stored in the contact record.
9YOrX TIL that poultry farmers and people that have chickens use a technique called "Egg Candling" to determine whether or not an egg has been fertilized and is developing a viable chick.
neDQb TIL The author of the Constitution's preamble died from trying to clear a urinary tract blockage by using a piece of whale bone as a catheter