› 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.

E1G8d TIL Daniel Kish is a blind man who taught himself to navigate by echolocation (like bats) by making swift clicking sounds that reflected from objects around him. Using these reflected sounds, he makes a mental image of his surroundings. He now trains others to 'see' the world like he does.
KEQE TIL that trouser zippers are the leading cause of penile injury, with approximately 2000 males seeking treatment for zipper related genital injuries in USA emergency departments each year.
Gb5G TIL in 2006, a bank manager in China stole $26,000 from the bank. His plan was to purchase lottery tickets with the intent of winning enough that he could return the money before the theft was discovered and still have some left over for himself. Despite the odds, his plan succeeded.
RWj8 TIL that in 2009, during a bar fight in Dublin, a man had his hand cut off with a samurai sword. He proceeded to punch his attacker in the face with the stump.
pY10p TIL of Michele Mouton, the last women to compete in high level rallying. She won 4 races in the 1982 season and nearly won the 1982 World Rally Championship season, eventually finishing runner up, as a factory driver for Audi.