› added 4 years ago

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TIL that airports used to offer trip life insurance for $1.50. A man took out a $37,500 policy on his mother and hid explosives in her luggage. He told her it was her Christmas gift. All 44 people on United flight 629 died.

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KOgmJ TIL that the largest single organism on the planet is not a blue whale - it is a "Humongous Fungus" called Armillaria ostoyae, located in Oregon, U.S. It is estimated it weighs 440 tons (the size of three blue whales) and is 2400 years old.
5YjOk TIL over 7% of America is afflicted by Autoimmune disorders.
Z0QG [TIL] …In Tolkien’s books, Narya (one of the Rings of Power) was owned by Gandalf. In addition, it was explained as, “with it you may rekindle hearts in a world that grows chill.” Oh, and it made him pretty much immortal.
QJM0L TIL Lieutenant ‘Mad’ Jack Churchill armed himself with a longbow and a sword during WWII and became the only British soldier known to have killed an enemy with an arrow
yQ85a TIL in 1140, a German King captured a castle and ordered all the women of the castle to leave with whatever they could carry on their backs. Thinking quickly, the women carried their men on their backs. The King kept his word and let the men live.