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97

TIL that George S. Patton, before being temporarily appointed to the General Staff Corps in Boston, saved several children from drowning in August of 1923 when they fell off a yacht during a boating trip off Salem, MA. He was awarded the Silver Lifesaving Medal for this action.

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OoGae TIL that pharmaceutical company Aventis stopped production of a cure for sleeping sickness, a lifesaving drug for millions of Africans, between 1995-2001 because it wasn’t making enough profit. Instead the product was marketed in the West as women’s facial hair removal cream.
oBrRE TIL about Jaron Lanier, who at 13 convinced a university to allow him to enroll (where he took graduate-level courses) and at 16 built a canoe he sailed from Florida to Venezuela. He is considered a founding father of the field of virtual reality.
o4yR TIL that one Korean soldier during WWII fought for three Armies.In 1938 he was conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army.He was captured by the Soviet Red Army and forced into service in 1942.In 1943,captured again and forced to fight for the Wehrmacht. Finally, he was captured by US Army in 1944.
1aeXD TIL a group of native Americans occupied Alcatraz for 14 months before being forcibly removed by the federal government.
bZb0 TIL that when Screamin’ Jay Hawkins set out to record “I Put A Spell On You” he envisioned it as “a refined ballad”. Before recording, however, he got incredibly drunk, and recorded the version you hear today.