› added 8 years ago

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TIL the Queen’s Guard at Buckingham Palace handle public nuisances not by ignoring them as seen in movies, but by shouting and pointing their loaded rifles at them.

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via reddit.com

VDyB TIL that the Italian government constructed a dam in 1959 despite multiple warnings of the instability of the region. In 1963, a landslide into the reservoir behind the dam triggered a tsunami over 800 ft high that breached the dam and killed nearly 2000 people, leaving a 200 ft deep impact crater.
v7kD TIL: During the war, more than 200,000 Polish fought for the UK but Poland was not invited to the Victory Celebrations for fear of upsetting Stalin
W7dw9 TIL Swedish soprano Jenny Lind's American tour from 1850 to 1852 caused a frenzy and she gave 93 concerts under PT Barnum’s management. Local businesses inserted “Jenny Lind” into advertisements to catch attention
4DLN TIL that in the USA, the deadliest job is logging, followed by fishing. Taxi drivers are the most likely to be murdered, more than twice as likely than cops.
e0Yx6 TIL: Nazis offered Iron Cross for 4 Finnish Jews during WW2. None accepted. For example, Leo Skurnik was awarded Iron Cross for evacuating a German soldier under enemy fire. Major Skurnik told the Germans that Skurnik would "wipe his arse with the medal."