› added 7 years ago

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TIL of Gino Bartali, a cyclist who used his fame as a winner of the Tour de France to smuggle counterfeit documents hidden inside his bicycle through Nazi checkpoints in WWII Italy under the guise of training. These documents allowed as many as 800 Jews to escape persecution by the Nazis.

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via reddit.com

ANAgo TIL one possible origin to the idiom, "shake a leg", meaning to 'get going' or 'hurry it up' came after battles during the Civil War. Stretcher-bearers would violently jostle a leg or arm to elicit a response from victims on the field to determine if he were alive or dead.
mxWXY TIL about Ussuri dholes which are rare, carnivorous canids native to wilderness areas ranging from the Indian subcontinent to northeast Asia. Also called Indian dholes, these endangered mammals are known to feed on herbivores such chitals, sambars, and gaurs, and occasionally on onagers and kiangs.
JYe9v TIL that the carcasses used in Forged in Fire are donated to a wolf sanctuary (or, in the case of fish, taken home and eaten).
aY0b TIL that after a ride on England’s first escalator, customers were offered a brandy to revive them of their ordeal.
nyBo TIL that Canada also sent its Japanese citizens to internment camps during World War 2