› added 9 years ago

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TIL a 90 year old woman with no heirs signed a contract with a 47 year old lawyer giving him her apartment upon her death, but he had to pay her a monthly allowance until she died. She outlived him and his widow continued the payments. She received approximately double the value of the apartment.

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Ypkox TIL a USAF tanker used its fuel boom to tow an F-4 Phantom to safety after the fighter lost engine power flying over the Atlantic
0D4M TIL that during WWII, King Christian X of Denmark was one of the only rulers of an occupied country who refused to go into exile for his own safety. He took daily rides through Copenhagen unattended to show he was not afraid.
6QYl TIL that late at night, when astronomer Harlow Shapley discovered our sun was not near the center of the Milky Way, he found the only other person in the building, a cleaning lady, and explained his discovery, and said that they were the only two people on Earth that understood it.
mxQDE TIL ancient Greek author Lucian of Samosata wrote a short novel in the 100s which included a trip to the Moon, a 200-mile-long whale with fish people living inside it, and a river of wine filled with fish and bears.
d9D7 TIL that many laundry detergents use chemical trickery to make clothes appear whiter. They contain agents called optical brighteners that glow blue under florescent and incandescent light, making clothes appear whiter than they actually are. Incidentally, this trick does not work under LED lights.