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TIL Alcatraz was one of the only federal prisons at the time that allowed hot showers to deter prisoners from acclimating to cold water and escaping through the San Francisco Bay.

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via reddit.com

j6ZM TIL Quentin Tarantino lied about his age to work as an usher at a porno movie theater.
D1Jrp TIL the largest sum paid for a painting by Giovanni Boldini (€2.1 million) was for one found in an unoccupied and decadent Paris apartment frozen in time since 1942. The painting of his mistress had sat unseen for 68 years after her family fled the Nazi's to never return (rent paid til their death).
7r5Kx Today I Learned the sinking of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff resulted in the loss of 9,400 German citizens. This makes it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking, however it is a rather unknown event due to being overshadowed by all the news of WW2 ending around the same time.
R5dZj TIL that the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba 🇦🇼, Bonaire 🇧🇶 & Curaçao 🇨🇼 speak a Portuguese-based Creole with heavy Spanish influence called Papiamento as their main & most spoken language, with 400.000 total speakers. Dutch is a 2nd or 3rd language for most locals.
rRyM1 TIL that when Meghan Markle became the Duchess of Sussex, she had to make up her own coat of arms because she didn't already have one.