› added 1 year ago

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TIL that the South African Marxist political party, Economic Freedom Fighters, has a branch in Namibia

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N7dy8 TIL Bobby Fischer made the only perfect score in the U.S. Championship and went on to invent a modified chess timing system, which added a time increment after each move, now a standard practice in top tournament and match play.
j6GEQ TIL Shortly before Paris was captured by the Nazis in 1940, French engineers cut the lift cables to the Eiffel Tower. German soldiers had to climb the entire tower in order to hoist their flag... which blew away after just few hours. Hitler himself was unable to make the climb when he visited.
Z8bgv TIL that cats can easily survive falling at terminal velocity, and in fact have a higher rate of survival the further up they fall. One cat fell 32 floors onto concrete and survived with a chipped tooth.
4XJr6 TIL during a 2006-2007 tour of Afghanistan one Royal Marine sniper managed to kill over 90 Taliban fighters in just one day.
nWnpW TIL that whale carcasses sequester a huge amount of carbon in the ocean