› added 5 years ago

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TIL that during the Vietnam War, the West-German goverment send a hospital ship, the "Helgoland", on a humanitarian Mission to Vietnam as a compromise towards the US request for military aid. The "Helgoland" provided free medical treatment for civilians between 1966 and 1971.

WkZE4 TIL the "Hogwarts Express" rescued a family caught by a flood in the Scottish Highlands. Faced with a 3-mile walk in a bog for kids aged 6, 8, 10 & 12, the father called for help; police had the next train pick them up called the Jacobite, which happened to be the train from Harry Potter movies.
V48G TIL of “fagging”, a practice in British private schools where younger students were required to act as personal servants to senior students (the fag-masters). Sexual abuse was rampant in this system.
RJVa TIL Steve Jobs was diagnosed with a rare form of non aggressive pancreatic cancer that was entirely treatable. Jobs then resisted standard treatment for 9 months, choosing to try and treat his cancer with a vegan diet. This led to the cancer becoming untreatable and him losing his life.
BmRK TIL that the interior of the Skylab space station was so enormous that astronauts could get “stuck” in the middle, and had to either try and “swim” or wait for air currents to blow them back to a wall.
X06NX TIL about Jerónimo de Ayanz, a 17th century Spanish soldier, painter, astronomer, musician and inventor whom registered the first modern patent for a steam engine, designed a submarine and tested out a diving suit before Felipe III by submerging a man in the Pisuerga river for an hour.