› added 11 years ago

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TIL that there is a big problem of elephant alcoholism in India and that substance abuse is not unique to humans.

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E16BW TIL that during the siege of Leningrad, Hitler had no intentions of actually invading the city. He did not want to capture and feed the 3 million inhabitants and ordered an unending siege, disregarding possible surrender, waiting for the city to starve to death. Close to a million civilians starved.
YVPv TIL Bebo was bought for $1 million by the same people who sold it for $850 million 5 years earlier
QNneM TIL about the Robertson family who tried to sail around the world in 1970s. They were shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean after orcas bashed their boat yet the family survived for 38 days on a dinghy before being rescued.
NXABP TIL that, while stationed in Haiti, Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Faustin Wirkus was crowned king by a local tribal queen as he seemed fit their local prophecy.
0wdk1 TIL that William Adams, an English navigator during the 1600's, became the first of his nation to reach Japan, and was recognized as one of the first ever Western samurai.