› added 1 year ago

47

TIL about "All Alone" a "War Pigeon" who relayed a clandestine report from South East France back to the UK in under ~24 hours, and hence earned a "Dickin Medal". This seemingly occurred in the 1940s.

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via reddit.com

pYGN8 TIL that the US post office turns children’s letters to Santa into a giant gift registry that allows citizens to fulfill children’s Christmas wishes
lEMA TIL Bayer Pharmaceutical knowingly shipped out HIV-tainted blood transfusions to Hemophiliacs in countries such as France, Spain and Japan during the 1980s. They eventually paid millions out in lawsuits but no Bayer executive was ever charged with a crime.
nWJjG TIL the Woodstock 1999 festival was so ill-prepared for the crowd size that portable toilets overflowed and there was no shade from the heat. Attendees started playing in mud to cool off unaware it was contaminated by waste leaking from toilets leading to many cases of trench mouth and trench foot.
BeOD TIL That the descendants of Samurai are over represented at the the top of Japanese society, despite not being nobility for over 140 years.
KBBB TIL that not only do microwave ovens not “cook out” nutrients in food, they can sometimes do a better job of preserving nutrients.