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164

TIL that in 1935 the U.S. 23rd Bomb Squadron dropped twenty 600-pound bombs in the path of a volcano’s lava flow, thus saving the city of Hilo, Hawaii by diverting the lava away from the city.

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0wOgM TIL in 2019 researchers studied DNA samples from Loch Ness and ruled out the presence of the large animals that are commonly said to have been behind the monster sightings. However, the researchers did not discount the possibility that the sighted animal was a big eel.
ONk6 TIL of the US 77th Division’s “Lost Battalion”, nine WWI companies that held their ground in the Argonne for six days after accidentally advancing too far; surrounded by Germans, shelled by their own artillery, and low on rations and ammunition, only 194 out of approximately 544 men were rescued
QMrM TIL the Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919 is known as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history and that it killed more people in 1 year than during the 4 years of the Black Plague. It was most deadly for people aged 20-40 and many died within hours of contracting the virus.
eYmk TIL Mel Brooks did not have a starring role in “Young Frankenstein” (which he directed and co-wrote with Gene Wilder) because Wilder wouldn’t let him, saying: “You have a way of breaking the fourth wall, whether you want to or not. I don’t want too much to be, you know, a wink at the audience.“
6ELpX TIL the mountain lions originally found throughout North America were completely wiped out by the arrival of humans some 10,000 years ago. The mountain lions seen since then are actually descendants of South American mountain lions that moved north and recolonized the continent.