› added 6 years ago

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TIL Mel Brooks was in the US Army during WW2 and defused German land mines during the American advance into Germany.

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OorP1 TIL during WWII, Winston Churchill had a private bathroom in his bunker, that was actually hiding a direct phone-link to the president of the USA. So, when the lock on the door was switched from ‘vacant’ to ‘engaged’, Churchill wasn’t using the toilet, he was instead conducting important business.
Zjr4 TIL in Japanese folklore, there is a ‘futon(sleeping mat) spirit’. If it feels neglected, the futon will rise up and roam the house at night, looking for people to strangle.
Oxxa TIL that the first color photograph was of a tartan ribbon, it was taken in 1861
XW6r TIL PhD students are 2.5 times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders than highly educated general population
JZA4 TIL that alchemist Hennig Brand believed that he could distill gold from human urine. After stockpiling 1,500 gallons of the liquid and boiling it, he discovered phosphorus.