› added 9 years ago

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TIL that during World War II a Dutch minesweeper evaded the Japanese for eight days disguised as an island. The crew covered the decks in cut trees and painted exposed surfaces to look like rocks. They moved only at night and anchored closed to shore by day, eventually escaping to Australia.

JYmv4 TIL that the South Korean government started massively subsidizing (1%+ of GDP) its entertainment industry in 1994 after realizing one Jurassic Park film made as much as the combined sales of 1.5 million Hyundai cars.
e9M5 TIL in Leeds there is a building that was designed so poorly it creates a powerful wind tunnel effect around that is so strong it can knock people of their feet
XENME TIL of a "body farm", where the decomposition of human corpses is studied by leaving bodies outside in a variety of topographic and climate conditions. There are facilities in US, Canada, Australia, India, and UK. Over 100 bodies are donated to the University of Tennessee facility alone every year.
GY88g TIL about the unusual phenomenon of "exploding trees." The trees explode when water in the tree's sap freezes. As the liquid hardens, it expands, eventually bursting the trees open emitting a gunshot-like pop. The exploding trees often bring down others with them, resulting in major damage.
8aD5b TIL about The Shark Arm Murder of 1935 where an aquarium shark in australia vomited up a human arm, leading to a murder investigation tied to organized crime and the cocaine trade.