› added 1 year ago

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TIL that the title of “first animals to go into space” goes to a group of fruit flies, which were sent into space on a V2 rocket by NASA in 1946

BrRAL TIL that an Italian banker, Gilberto Baschiera is considered a modern-day Robin Hood. Over the course of 7 years, he secretly diverted 1 million euros to poorer clients from the wealthy ones so they could qualify for loans. He made no profit and avoided jail in 2018 due to a plea bargain.
Y7gl7 TIL Philip Ahn was a Korean American actor who played villainous Japanese characters "to the hilt" during the Second World War. Ahn had fun with the parts, when asked to speak Japanese would actually speak Korean and make remarks described as “highly uncomplimentary to the Japanese.”
QmXa TIL that the scene in Terminator 2: Judgement Day where a helicopter flies under an overpass was not CGI, it was stunt performed by helicopter pilot Chuck Tamburro. The stunt was so dangerous that the film crew refused to film it, so James Cameron had to film the sequence himself.
wopNY TIL Julius Schmid arrived in NYC as a penniless, partially paralyzed German immigrant. He got a job at a sausage maker where he started selling the leftover animal intestines as condoms. He grew this into a multi-million dollar business eventually being named "the undisputed king of condoms".
Lpym TIL a poor African American washer woman saved up over $250,000 over her lifetime, then gave most of it away to start a scholarship fund for young black students.