› added 8 years ago

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TIL that R. Lee Ermey, the actor who played Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket, is the only retired US Marine to ever be promoted. He was personally promoted by the Commandant to Gunnery Sergeant, to match his rank in the movie.

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lovrV TIL that the term and concept of "jay-walking" was introduced in the 1920's by the auto industry as part of a propaganda campaign to claim the roads for cars and shift the blame in accidents from cars to pedestrians. At the time "Jay" was a slur with a similar meaning to "redneck" or "hillbilly."
1dAd TIL: Cables at the bottom of the ocean Transmit 99% of the world’s data. Sharks have bitten these cables before, meaning that the internet has suffered from literal SHARK ATTACKS.
neBNY TIL that both New York, NY and Buffalo, NY were called New Amsterdam.
OZbR TIL that Pope Pius XII, who is often criticized for not speaking forcefully against Hitler, supervised a rescue network which saved 860,000 Jewish lives - more than all the international agencies combined.
G4EE TIL of the Barkley Marathons, a race so intense and difficult that only 14 people have finished it since its inception in 1986.