› added 6 years ago

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TIL that in 2008 Anonymous launched the project Chanology, sending endless loops of black pages to the Scientology church's fax machines to waste ink.

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nePd9 TIL The swastika (Sanskrit word and symbol) is a sacred Hindu symbol used since ancient times to represent prosperity and it was stolen by Hitler to convey his notion of superiority.
VBkrk TIL that in 1957, the town of Pleasanton, Texas voted overwhelmingly to desegregate its public schools. The vote (and entirely peaceful subsequent integration of African American students) bewildered the press and gained national attention as it occurred around the same time as the Little Rock Nine.
5Y6Br TIL that Daniel Oppenheimer won the Ig Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006 for his paper "Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with using long words needlessly" which argues that simple writing makes authors appear more intelligent than complex writing.
69X5X TIL about the Martyrs of Nowogródek, eleven Catholic nuns who sacrificed their lives to take the place of 120 Polish civilians condemned to die at the hands of Nazi Gestapo. Immediately after they prayed, the Gestapo suddenly released the civilians, & without warning, rounded up & executed the nuns.
nemWB TIL of USMC Sergeant Wirkus who was crowned king of a Haitian island for 3 years where he was stationed until he was transferred back to the US mainland by the Marines.