› added 6 years ago

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TIL that the United Nations was gifted a statue of an elephant by Kenya, Namibia and Nepal, but the UN hid it because the statue has an erect penis.

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via reddit.com

wLPA1 TIL the origin of the phrase “steal my thunder” is an 18th century playwright who created a machine that recreated thunder noises for a cancelled play. When he attended a later play in the same theatre and heard it used, he cried "Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder."
yQe8p TIL Kangaroo tendons act like springs so little muscular effort is used in hopping
R7Mj4 TIL that a holocaust denial group promised $50,000 to anyone who could prove that gas chambers were used to deliberately kill people at Auschwitz. They were forced by a judge to pay that money plus an additional $40,000, to Auschwitz survivor Mel Mermelstein who provided proof of that very fact.
xGPD TIL In 1944 Russia captured an American B-29 bomber. Stalin demanded exact clones be made for the Russian air force. A small hole was found on the left wing of the captured aircraft as a result of a manufacturing mistake. All Russian TU-4 bombers included the unnecessary hole in the left wing.
yQB5e TIL In 1915, Kulbir Thapa was the first Nepalese Gurkha to receive the Victoria Cross. Thapa carried two wounded Gurkhas through No-Man’s-Land despite being wounded himself. When he went back a third time, German soldiers stopped firing and began clapping, allowing him to walk back to his own line.