› added 10 years ago

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TIL that a Swedish astronaut was not allowed to bring reindeer jerky with him on board a shuttle mission close to Christmas because the American astronauts thought it was weird. He had to go with moose jerky instead.

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R7jv8 TIL As a defensive measure Israel installed an underwater pipe system to pump flammable crude oil into the Suez Canal, thereby creating a sheet of flame. On the eve of the Yom Kippur War, teams of Egyptian frogmen blocked the underwater openings with concrete before launching their attack
dVZd TIL During the late 80’s British students wanted Nelson Mandela hanged. British MPs wanted him shot. Margaret Thatcher considered him a terrorist.
aLZ0 TIL Marines taught Sergeant Reckless, a horse who held official rank in the United States military, battlefield survival skills such as how not to become entangled in barbed wire and to lie down when under fire. She learned to run for a bunker upon hearing the cry, “incoming!”
ZpeLp TIL that Hyochang Park in South Korea was originally used as a royal cemetery. Under Japanese rule, the cemetery was turned into a golf course, leaving the graves directly in the line of play. The park now contains a museum dedicated to Kim Koo, a leader in the independence movement against Japan.
EK7V TIL a man faked his death, lived next door without his kids knowing, fled to Panama with his wife on a fake passport, tried to build a hotel using his insurance money, after a visa policy change he returned home and pretended not to remember anything; his ruse was revealed by a Google search