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TIL Laconia incident during WWII. A U-boat sank RMS Laconia mistaking it for a Supply vessel horrified, the Germans tried helping survivors, but Allies attacked, leading to the "Laconia Order" restricting aid to survivors.

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YpoDd TIL an underwater icicle, AKA brinicle or "finger of death", kills everything in its path. The water freezes in an icy sheath around it & a web of ice forms that kills everything it touches, including sea urchins and starfish, by encasing it in a tube of ice.
lVAA TIL, In WW1, American soldiers who were skilled at trap shooting were armed with shotguns and stationed where they could fire at enemy hand grenades in midair.
X9M6 TIL of a mysterious character on The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68) named “Mr. Schwamp” who would occasionally appear, often sitting on a park bench. The other characters would acknowledge him with “Hello Mr. Schwamp” but he would only nod silently. The actor who played him has yet to be identified.
rRAee TIL the old format of 'Wheel of Fortune' in the 1980s took so long to film that hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White would sneak off and have “two or three or six” margaritas before returning to the set, where they would “have trouble recognizing the alphabet”.
x6vw1 TIL Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig's last sentence was meticulously typed by his wife as she recited the alphabet and he told her when to stop but he didn't finish as he was interrupted and it concerned a "point of all points, which the Lord has truly revealed to me in my sleep"