› added 4 years ago

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TIL of Hershel Williams, a W. VA farm boy who earned the Medal of Honor for Valor at Iwo Jima, 75 years ago this month. He was the last man standing in his special weapons unit, wielding a flamethrower to clear out 7 Japanese fortified pill boxes. Now 96, he is one of the few WW2 MoH holders alive.

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xVd7g TIL about HD 189733b, a blue planet the size of Jupiter about 63 lightyears away from Earth. The surface temperature is a staggering 1000°C, wind speeds average at around 7000 kilometers per hour, and it rains molten glass... sideways.
grV14 TIL that British mathematician Lord Kelvin was so confident in his abilities, he once is said to have sent a servant to find out who was the second-highest scoring student in a mathematical competition at the University of Cambridge. The servant returned and replied "You were, sir".
yQLEa TIL that Samoa is 1 day ahead of American Samoa even though they are ~100 miles apart
Bg8nd TIL The Independent Order of Odd Fellows exists for more than 200 years. The guys are non-political fraternity of — you got it — Odd Fellowship. Oddly, their motto is Friendship, Love and Truth
DQgLY TIL because of the US Neutrality act at the start of WWII, the US delivered planes to the US-Canadian border and Britain pulled the across using horses or trucks.