› added 11 years ago

78

TIL that Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila won the marathon at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome after running the race barefoot.

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RJR1 TIL During WWII the Russians had their own independently developed “Jeep”, but because the Americans sent so many Jeeps to help, the Russians turned their own Jeeps into thousands of little armored cars. They were surprisingly successful and widely exported after the war.
0wo7R TIL during world War II, the army would pour ice cold water in the ear of "draft dodgers" who pretended to be deaf. The normal response is to turn the eyes to the ear with cold water (Caloric reflex. About half of deaf lack this reflex). No response = truly deaf. Response = Possible draft dodger.
wnw8 TIL in its 44-year history, “Sesame Street” has won 153 Emmys and 8 Grammys. An estimated 77 million Americans watched the show as children, and 120 million people watch its various international versions.
j67eM TIL that, after a bitter political rivalry, Thomas Jefferson and John Adam’s were able to reconcile and rekindle a friendship and line of personal correspondence that lasted for 15 more years until both of their deaths on the same day.
Abvd TIL North Korean exists because Taiwan exists: China was prevented by the US 7th Fleet from invading Taiwan in June 1950, so Mao Zedong announced China would enter the Korean war with the invasion force originally intended for Taiwan, and by October this force saved North Korea from imminent defeat