› added 4 years ago

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TIL Doris Day turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom, an honorary Academy Award and Kennedy Center Honors Award because her intense fear of flying made it impossible to accept the awards in person.

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yVeEa TIL the Roman Army used decimation as a form of punishment. Decimation is when a unit of soldiers would be selected for punishment, and one in ten soldiers would be randomly executed as a lesson to the rest of the unit. It was used to maintain discipline of soldiers.
GR9j TIL: Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, was left stranded on a deserted island, but survived for over 4 years, partly by using feral cats to protect him from ravenous rats that attacked during the night.
R7rGa TIL Gary Sinise, known for his role as Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump, though the work of his Lt. Dan Band and the Gary Sinise Foundation, have provided at least 70 forever homes for veterans and officers injured in the line of duty.
grx4b TIL that the architect that designed the original WTC towers actually built another similar tower in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It is essentially a half-height replica of one WTC tower.
0dmKR TIL in 2005 graffiti artist David Choe was offered $60,000 to paint murals at Facebook headquarters. He chose to take the compensation in stock. Eventually being worth more than $200,000,000.