› added 5 years ago

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TIL that the CIA made an Osama bin Laden action figure that looks like a 'Star Wars' villain to send to Pakistani and Afghani kids, because "it would help find Bin Laden"

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via reddit.com

4Xv9R TIL despite movies and television, never put a raw steak or other raw meat on a black eye. The bacteria on raw meat poses a high risk of infection, and this method of treating a black eye has no scientific basis.
nel7P TIL that when the German army broke through French lines in 1918, a small battalion of US marines disregarded general orders to retreat and dug shallow holes with their bayonets. The German advance was stopped after six days of fierce fighting, and the marines had been given a new name-- Devil Dogs.
D1JDj TIL why people don't scream and flail around when they close to drowning; their bodies do not have the air needed to perform actions such as waving around or screaming for help to seek attention, so the body attempts to prolong your survival in a few ways completely subconsciously.
eBnD TIL Gregory Scarpa, Sr. despised African-Americans so much, that he refused to get blood from a blood bank following an ulcer. He ended up contracting HIV from another italian mobster who donated his blood to Scarpa.
x7Lk TIL the city with the highest crime rate in the US is East St. Louis, IL; its murder rate is 101 per 100k residents, which is more than double that of the city with the number 2 murder rate, Gary, IN, and also higher than the country of Honduras, whose murder rate is the highest in the world.