› added 9 years ago

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TIL of Robert de La Rochefoucauld, a French saboteur during WWII. He once hid explosives inside loaves of bread and blew up a Nazi munitions plant. Captured, he feigned a seizure in his cell and when a guard opened the door, hit him with a table leg, broke his neck, shot 2 other guards and escaped.

Read more nytimes.com

via reddit.com

D1ZDe TIL hat-makers in the 19th century regularly used mercury in the manufacturing of felt hats, which caused a high rate of poisoning and led to neurological damage like slurred speech, memory loss, and tremors. This was the inspiration for the Mad Hatter character in Alice in Wonderland.
MJwA TIL 988 million positions can be achieved in the first four moves from both sides in chess.
DYmD TIL that on Saturn’s moon Titan, mountain ranges are named after mountains & characters from JRR Tolkien’s Middle-Earth.
epnVg TIL NASA’s Space Exploration Vehicle is a concept of a modular vehicle for planetary exploration or use in open space. It’s the size of a small pickup & has a bathroom & shower, plus beds
4X1Jb TIL that an Indian painter biked from India to Sweden to meet the love of his life.