› added 5 years ago

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TIL about Witold Pilecki, a polish intelligence agent in WW2 who volunteered to join a resistance operation to infiltrate a Nazi Death Camp and gather intelligence about the Nazi's crimes and inform Western Allies. Then, after two and a half years, he chose to escape. The camp was Auschwitz.

E1YdP TIL about Blue Babe, a 36,000 year old mummified steppe bison found in Alaska in 1979. After scientists painstakingly dug up the specimen and prepared it for display in the University of Alaska Museum, they decided to celebrate by taking a piece of meat from its neck, stewing it, and eating it.
4XKVa TIL Illegal home distilling of pálinka became popular in the 18th century when peasant breweries were shut down. The practice was fuelled by the desire to make use of fruit that had fallen from the tree and could not be eaten, coupled with the knowledge that making it at home was much less expensive
AlDn TIL African immigrants in Switzerland have a crime rate of above 600% that of the native Swiss population
MKgb TIL: in 1985 Father-In-Law of Howard Schultz sat him down to say “My daughter’s 7 months pregnant and it’s time her husband forgot his hobby and got a real job.” When Howard told his wife she said “No, we’re going to do it.” In 1986 the Schultz’s opened their 1st coffee bar and called it Starbucks
xVlab TIL that as the HMS Sheffield was sinking off the Falklands in 1982, the crew gathered round and started singing 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' from Monty Python.