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TIL of the Bethke brothers. Each escaped from Soviet East Berlin. Ingo floated on a mattress across a river. Holger used a bow to fire a cable across the gap, then zip-lined to safety. Then Ingo and Holger built an aircraft and flew back over the wall to rescue their third brother, Egbert.

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wLWXJ TIL about the Great Hanging at Gainesville, a confederate war crime where 41 suspected unionists were executed in October of 1862
GYNE5 TIL In 1908 William "Bigfoot" Anakin, a local champion, was taken along by a publican to court to help demonstrate that darts was not gambling, it was a game of skill. He threw three darts in the center, no other court official could do the same. The judge ruled that darts was a game of skill.
vQxR TIL: A Detroit man is incredibly good at winning carnival games. In fact, he has won nearly 250,000 large stuffed animals in his lifetime… and donated them all to various charities.
Z8RMG TIL the United States is the country with the largest difference between hottest and coldest temperature ever recorded, at a whopping 214°F (119°C)
D1gAP TIL that a nun in a convent in France began to meow like a cat; shortly afterwards other nuns also meowed. At last all the nuns meowed together every day for several hours. They finally stopped after they were informed that they will be whipped until they promised not to meow any more.