› added 11 years ago

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TIL Kazakhstan helped dismantle 4m+ explosives and mines in Iraq, and provided medical aid for over 5000, as well as purifying over 700 cubic metres of water.

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v1BnR TIL streets are almost always wet in movies. Wet pavement is photogenic and the water diffuses reflections and helps eliminate shadows caused by filming equipment and light sources.
VM060 TIL The USS Niagara was intentionally sunk in 1820 for preservation, and raised 93 years later for restoration.
LQpv9 TIL: in the USA, only the president, a state governor, or the mayor of the D.C. can order flags to fly at half-staff. Reasons for flying at half staff are: The death of a government official, military member, or first responder, A national tragedy, Memorial Day or another national day of remembrance
6KM7 TIL Workers in Cuban cigar factories would employ a “Lector” who would read newspapers, political treatises and classical literature to break the monotony of the cigar-rollers’ work, so even illiterate cigar-rollers would be well-informed and familiar with great literature.
0wAYy TIL that physicist Nikola Tesla once paid an overdue hotel bill with a box containing a working model of his ‘death beam‘, warning employees never to open it because of the danger. They hid the box & when it was discovered years later & opened, found to contain old (harmless) electrial parts.