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103

TIL Sometimes Air Forces Ceremonially Set Pianos on Fire

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awljo TIL Hitler's chauffeur, Erich Kempka, left the bunker with a group of others after Hitler's suicide. They got rid of their uniforms and disguised themselves in civilian clothes. Soviet soldiers found the group, and insisted they join them and drink vodka in celebration of victory.
pNKQ TIL Enterprising Kenyans pretended to be Somali pirates and gave fake interviews to foreign journalists for cash
6EYVl TIL That large bottles of wine have crazy, Biblical names, including Jeroboam, Nebuchadnezzar, Goliath or Melchizedek, which is 40 times the size of a regular wine bottle
l7GKr TIL in 1907, chemist Leo Baekeland accidentally overheated a mixture of chemicals while trying to find a substitute for shellac. Instead, he created Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, which transformed manufacturing and paved the way for the modern plastics and polymer industry.
GEe4 TIL Men have weaker immune systems, higher cholesterol, more heart problems, greater susceptibility to diabetes, higher rates of cancer and lower chances of surviving it. Men make up over 2/3 of murder victims, ¾ of traffic accident fatalities and are 3 times more likely to commit suicide