› added 4 years ago

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TIL the British Royal Navy has been instructed not to detain pirates of certain nationalities because the punishments for piracy in their home countries would make the pirates eligible for British asylum under British human rights legislation.

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Y70od TIL Sparrow Force, a mostly Australian WW 2 unit, was stranded for 10 months on a Japanese-held island, fighting against 100-to-1 odds, with no radio for most of that time. A radio was improvised & sent, “Force intact. Still fighting. Badly need boots, quinine, money, and Tommy-gun ammunition.”
KYAK9 TIL in 1940s and 50s America coin-op machines called the “Voice-O-Graph” were commonly available to instantly record a single vinyl record from an attached microphone for a few quarters
DjAe TIL that because of “Hollywood accounting,” Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix lost money, despite being in one of the highest grossing film franchises.
BrG1L TIL that there was a complete ban of gum from 1992 to 2004 in Singapore. Since 2004, they have allowed dental gum to be imported in, because the US asked for it in a trade deal. The ban was to the annoyance of chewing gum being everywhere .
N7VQE TIL that after he was shot down and captured by the USSR in 1960, CIA pilot Gary Powers tried not to share intelligence with the KGB, but he was hampered by western press. A KGB major stated "there's no reason for you to withhold information. We'll find it out anyway. Your press will give it to us."