› added 5 years ago

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TIL about the WW2 battle between the destroyer USS Borie and U-405, in which the two ships collided and became locked together. The crews had to resort to fighting at close range, with small arms and anything they could get their hands on. One German sailor was even killed by a thrown sheath knife.

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ZkY TIL that in 2011, someone tried to sell a near-perfect fake of the Pontiac ambulance which had transported the body of President John F. Kennedy to his autopsy. Turns out the real one had been crushed in 1986 at the request of the Kennedy family.
y7VX TIL that Dole sued and tried to shut down documentarian Fredrik Gertten from showing his movie “bananas”(following a lawsuit, workers loosing limbs because of Doles poisoning). Gerttens reply was to make a documentary, about how Dole tried stop the movie, called it"Big boys goes bananas".
v1rEL TIL of Curt Degerman – a Swedish man who died a millionaire (1.2 million USD) at the age of 60 after collecting and recycling cans and bottles for 40 years.
bAEQ TIL Charles Byrne (aka “The Irish Giant”) in 1783 feared grave robbers would steal & dissect his body after his death, he requested that his coffin be weighed down & buried at the bottom of the sea. Before burial, his corpse was stolen, dissected, & his skeleton still on display to this day.
7K6x TIL in Western dress code, “semi-formal” is technically synonymous with “black tie” (tuxedos and evening gowns). True “formal” dress is known as “white tie,” and consists of tailcoats for men and ball gowns for women.