› added 9 years ago

232

TIL in 1932 Oskar Speck was an unemployed contractor in Germany who left via kayak to seek work, but en route changed his plan & decided to see the world. By 1939 he kayaked all the way to Australia. Unbeknown to him, WW2 started & upon arrival, he was detained as an enemy foreigner until WW2 ended.

Read more expeditionkayak.com

via reddit.com

16yeP TIL the Ebisu Minami circuit closed in 2021 due to damage from the Fukushima earthquake, and safety and finance concerns.
YpZGW TIL: Tennessee State Representative Harry Burn was the deciding vote that led to the ratification of the 19th amendment, granting women the right to vote in the U.S. He said: “I know that a mother’s advice is always safest for her boy to follow and my mother wanted me to vote for ratification.”
vPmA7 TIL Hard Rock Cafe's memorabilia collection began with a guitar from Eric Clapton, who was a regular at the first restaurant in London. It hang over his regular seat in order to lay claim to that spot. This prompted Pete Townshend to send a guitar with a note "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete."
rpno TIL The Boston Miracle resulted in a 79% drop in youth homicides in the 1990s after juvenile handgun homicides more than tripled from 22 victims in 1987 to 73 victims in 1990. A young youth pastor, Rev. Jeffrey Brown, simply went into the streets and listened to gang members problems.
4XnEX TIL of the "Daughter from California" syndrome, a situation in which a long-lost distant relative arrives at the hospital at which a dying elderly relative is being treated, and insists on aggressive measures to prolong the patient's life, or otherwise challenges the care the patient is being given.