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TIL during the Battle of Stalingrad, Soviet losses were so great that at times the life expectancy of a newly arrived soldier was less than a day, and the life expectancy of a Soviet officer was three days. Combat was so fierce, at one point a railway station changed hands 14 times in six hours.

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rRk7e TIL in Japan ~%99 of people are cremated. After cremation, the family uses chopsticks to transfer the bones out of the ash and into an urn. This is the ONLY time is acceptable to pass anything from chopsticks to chopsticks. Doing such outside of a funeral can remind bystanders of a recent funeral.
rR1o1 TIL killer bees are not natural and were created by scientists trying to increase honey production.
eYv4 TIL: The cast of the critically acclaimed Das Boot were not allowed to see sunshine during the entire year the movie was filmed. This was done in order to maintain their unhealthy pallor and contributed to their realistic portrayal of a “journey into madness”.
R58gl TIL that NBA star Stephen Curry and his father Dell Curry (former NBA player) have the same full name. They're both "Wardell Stephen Curry" (though the father takes the "Sr." suffix and Steph takes "II").
69vMQ TIL In Iceland, the tradition of Jólabókaflóð, or the "Christmas Book Flood," involves exchanging books on Christmas Eve and then spending the evening reading. This tradition stems from World War II when paper was one of the few commodities not rationed in Iceland.