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TIL that the California St. Francis Dam disaster of 1928, a midnight-hour 120' wave that killed 431 sleeping people and wiped out giant sections of land more than 50 miles west to Ventura, was caused by the dam having been built on a fault zone (in addition to the dam's retention of water).

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69maQ TIL about Wing Commander Clive Beadon, British dowser, diplomat, and officer in the Royal Air Force. During WW2 his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft guns over Thailand. He managed to fly the burning aircraft over 500 miles back to an airbase in India using flasks of tea to keep the flames at bay.
VZ9B TIL Majel Barrett’s recorded voice is still used today by Union Pacific Railroad giving notification of train and railroad track defects.
1eYD TIL that “chocolate diamonds” are a low quality grade diamond intended for industrial use but have been creatively marketed as jewelry and sold at much higher prices.
5Yj5P TIL about the Battalion Zośka, made up primarily of outlawed Polish boy scouts and girl scouts. They were responsible for the liberation of the Gęsiówka concentration camp from the Nazis in 1944. The rescued Jews went on to join these young scouts in their instrumental role in the Warsaw Uprising.
JY48Q TIL that Boris Pasternak (the author or Doctor Zhivago) was almost killed in the great purge, 20 years before he wrote his famous novel. He was only saved at the last moment when Stalin himself crossed his name off the list with the note "leave that fool alone".