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TIL that in WW2, the Italian submarine “Leonardo Da Vinci” torpedoed the troopship “Empress of Canada”, while on a return journey. The ship sank and half of the resulting 392 deaths were Italian prisoners of war.

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8LOX TIL, Brian Banks did 5 yrs in jail after a high school girl falsely accused him of rape. She also sued the school district & won $1.5m. Yrs later she admitted to him that she lied. He taped the conversation, his conviction was overturned & the school district sued her back for $2.6m
yQQ8l TIL a truck of airbag cartridges exploded in front of a woman's house & was so destructive her remains were a pile of teeth
wLR8W TIL learned about "Ether Frolics" A social gathering in the early 19th Century where partygoers would congregate to sniff ether. It was cheaper than alcohol and easier to come by than nitrous oxide, another favorite.
b9Xn4 TIL Ex-President Ronald Reagan occupied the 34th-floor Fox Plaza office building (where parts of "Die Hard" were shot) til 2001, breaking tradition by using a private office over a federal one. When Reagan aides toured the 34th-floor in 1989, it was littered with shells/broken glass from "Die Hard".
m1NAE TIL North Korea is obsessed with Choco Pies from S Korea. There's a black market for them, and factories once used them to pay worker bonuses. In 2014, S Korean activists sent 10K pies to NK with helium balloons. After an injured NK defector crossed the DMZ in 2017, he was given a lifetime supply.