› added 7 years ago

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TIL that the song "Christmas Eve (12/24 Sarajevo)", by the Trans Siberian Orchestra, tells the story of an elderly cellist returning to his war-torn home country. He played Christmas carols in the middle of town while the area was bombed by the Serbs.

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Zm1R TIL in 1998, Serena and Venus Williams said they could beat any man ranked 200th or worse in a game of tennis. Karsten Braasch, ranked 203th, accepted their challenge and easily beat them, 6-1, 6-2.
7r75Z TIL "Box beds" – cabinets with beds in them and, sometimes, lockable doors – were used for privacy and safety in parts of rural medieval Europe before individual bedrooms were common. They became fashionable even in homes with bedrooms and remaind in use in Scotland into the 1900s.
9YlNr TIL Hermit crabs need to find new shells to move into as they grow. If one finds a shell that is too big it'll wait for a larger crab to come along so it can take their old shell. Other crabs congregate waiting for available shells and form a line from largest to smallest so they can all swap shells
KYmo4 TIL that technically speaking, Gagarin's spaceflight is deemed as an "uncompleted spaceflight" per Section 8, paragraph 2.15, item b of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) sporting code because he was ejected out of his capsule before landing
ep6L5 TIL the Russian listening device planted in the US Embassy, "The Thing" was designed by Leon Theremin, inventor of the theremin musical instrument.. and the technology in "The Thing" was a precursor to RFID tags.