› added 10 months ago

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TIL that networks were created to help German Nazis to flee Europe after World War II. Josef Mengele and Adolf Eichmann made it to South America using the system. The Escape routes are called ratlines because of the way rats cling together to save themselves on a sinking ship.

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wdrP TIL Xu QinXian, the commander of China’s most elite army in 1989, refused to open fire on civilians at Tiananmen, stating: “the People’s Army has never in its history been used to suppress the people, I absolutely refuse to besmirch this historical record!” He was court martialled but not executed.
N7EPQ TIL of the Byford Dolphin decompression incident, where a diver was forced through a 60cm (24 inch) opening by compressed air and violently dismembered. Additionally, it caused the "expulsion of all of the internal organs of his chest and abdomen"
D11Lp TIL of the "Just Missed it Club," a group of people who, for one reason or another did not sail on the Titanic. One of these members was Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, son of the late shipping and railroad mogul Cornelius Vanderbilt. He died in the Lusitania disaster 3 years later.
JOlB TIL that Microsoft included Solitaire in Windows, in part, to familiarize people with drag and drop operations. In 1990, many users were still unfamiliar with graphical user interfaces.
16W7O TIL: “Miss Unsinkable” Violet Jessop survived the sinking of Titanic then survived the sinking of its sister ship Brittanic. The third sister and class namesake Olympic did not sink but Jessop was on board for its collision with a warship.