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TIL about Jess Larochelle, a Canadian war hero. Despite sustaining severe injuries, including a concussion, broken back, neck, detached retina, and blown eardrum, confronted and forced the retreat of 40 Taliban fighters. There is a campaign to upgrade his war decoration to a Victoria Cross.

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wonM7 TIL about Genie, a feral child who was tied up in her father's bathroom for most of her childhood and never developed the ability to speak. Despite massive advances in Genie's social skills and non-verbal communication - Genie never learned how to acquire language after her rescue.
m4jP TIL of Disney’s short lived introduction of self destructing DVDs.The discs worked perfectly for the two-day viewing window but when taken out of the package, exposure to oxygen turned the coating black and made the disc impenetrable by a DVD laser.
0wxmv TIL in the 1920s in Los Angeles, most hotels prohibited women from checking in without a male chaperone, making it unsafe for females traveling to LA solo. Hotel Figueroa was opened in 1926 funded by women making it the largest hotel for women professionals to gather in a safe environment.
Egmkx TIL Swedish children dress up as witches ("påskkärringar") during Easter, going door-to-door with decorated twigs and drawings in exchange for candy, based on old folklore about witches flying to "Blåkulla" to dance with the devil
xpbw TIL when the allies bombed Hamburg in July 1943, the unusually warm and dry weather conditions created “a vortex and whirling updraft of super-heated air which created a 1,500-foot-high tornado of fire, a totally unexpected effect.”