› added 11 years ago

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TIL a 1913 storm called the White Hurricane “battered four of the five lakes, killed 250 people, sunk 12 ships and caused $120 million in damage. “It was the most ferocious storm ever recorded on the Great Lakes at that time or since.”

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9YJp7 TIL of the Terrifying Operation Wandering Soul, where American forces would play eerie sounds of voices and mourning, causing the Viet Cong to think it was their dead ancestors and flee the battlefield.
0waGM TIL that one of the catalysts for the Battle of the Little Bighorn (Custers Last Stand) was the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota and the influx of white miners who disregarded the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868).
5YKVr TIL of Nancy Wake who ran away from home at 16 with just £200. Her husband was executed by the German and she worked as a nurse, a journalist, a courier & finally a spy for the UK. She is responsible for destroying the Gestapo HQ & was awarded medals by the US, UK, France, among others post-WW2.
oYKW TIL that the Leica Camera company smuggled hundreds of Jews out of Nazi Germany before the Holocaust, masquerading the Jews as employees being assigned overseas. The company helped each refugee find a job, gave each of them a Leica camera, and a monthly stipend till they found work.
l5D7 TIL the “vagina” is referred to as a “pussy” because in the 19th century the term “pussy” came to refer to anything soft and furry (“pussy willow” and “pussycat”, for example.)