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TIL In 1982, Heinz-Josef Große, a 34 year old East German construction worker at the Inner German border attempted to escape with the help of his backhoe. He breached various obstacles including the border fence only to be cut down halfway up a hill just several feet/meters from West German soil.

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W7Ned TIL Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook wrote that the word Al-Qaeda should be translated as "the database", because it originally referred to the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen militants who were recruited and trained with CIA help to defeat the Russians
M7M5a TIL that war has two distinct meanings: as a noun it means a state of armed conflict between different countries or groups; as a verb it means engage in a war.
P1E6w TIL that the Eurasian magpie is one of the most intelligent birds, and one of the most intelligent of all non-human animals. The expansion of its nidopallium is approx. the same in its relative size as the brain of humans. It is the only bird known to pass the mirror test.
nWk8G TIL T-mobile charges $15,000 per gigabyte roaming rate. No Joke
LQee0 TIL that the Bald Eagle, long a symbol of the United States, was not officially proclaimed the National Bird until yesterday