› added 10 months ago

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TIL the Paralympics started because of disabilities resulting from WW2, so this will be the first one in Paris even though it’s hosted the Olympics three times.

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e5QJ TIL Genghis Khan fathered over a thousand children, and because of that 1 in 200 men (0.5%) today are direct descendants of his.
x6edB TIL on Valentine's Day in 1991 during the Gulf War, the RAF attempted to airstrike a bridge in Fallujah with laser guided missiles, but they malfunctioned and hit a local marketplace. The RAF apologized and subsequently attacked the bridge again, hitting a different marketplace.
P9mg TIL an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who fought in World War II, Hiroo Onoda, did not surrender in 1945. In 1974 his former commander traveled from Japan to personally issue orders relieving him from duty. Onoda had spent almost 30 years holding out in the Philippines.
0wapM [TIL] Al Capone's son was deaf, and the mobster learned sign language to be able to speak to him.
v1D9L TIL of Maximilian 1, a 32 year old Austrian noble who was made Emperor of Mexico by France during the American Civil War.