› added 11 years ago

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TIL that a priest on the titanic refused a place on a life boat twice, and stayed behind to hear confessions and give absolution to people left on the ship.

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wdmE TIL that almost everything about Koko the gorilla’s signing ability is a hoax. Her signs are nearly gibberish, and her handlers “interpret” everything she says and try to construct meaning from them. She has zero support from scientists and linguists for this reason.
b78N TIL Robert Smith (of The Cure) at 29 years old was severely depressed as no rock n roll band had put out a masterpiece album in their late 20’s. He then made “Disintegration” about that subject; it’s regarded as a masterpiece.
jNnvj TIL of Semyon Hitler, a Soviet soldier who fought against the Nazis in WW2. Despite his unlucky name, he was given a medal for bravery during the war. After the war, his family legally changed their name to Hitlev.
mx9WM TIL in 2007, São Paulo introduced the Clean City Law. The result was a near-total ban of billboards, digital signs, ostentatious business signs, and advertising on buses and taxis. It turns out that some massive billboards where hiding whole favelas that few knew existed.
Ooe6a TIL the CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception, written by a magician, included instructions such as signaling other spies by tying their shoelaces a particular way