› added 3 years ago

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TIL about "Operation Moolah", which offered large cash rewards to North Korean pilots who defected with an intact MiG-15 jet fighter. However, the only defector who ever met the conditions, No Kum-sok, was unaware of the offer. He was still paid $100,000 ($967,289 in today's money).

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4r0R TIL that because of South Park’s Scientology episode, The Church of Scientology hired people to spy on Matt and Trey to find something on them to use for blackmail. The Church became frustrated when their investigation turned up nothing but the fact that they’re pretty normal people.
e0JG5 TIL "Lepidobatrachus laevis" despite its cute appearance is also known as the "Freddy Krueger frog" due to its aggressive "chomp and hold attitude"
QJg56 TIL that to many Icelanders, WW2 is actually known as blessað stríðið – “the blessed war" as the country has the war to thank for its independence.
A8yB TIL that the leaders of the UK, France, Italy, and the Netherlands were among those who opposed German reunification in 1989-1990; the Italian prime minister said, “I love Germany so much that I prefer to see two of them.” The Irish and US governments were among the few to support reunification.
7rJZr TIL after spending the best part of 60 years in prison, mob boss John Franzese was finally released in 2017 at the age of 100, at the time he was the oldest inmate in the US and the only centenarian in prison