› added 1 year ago

51

TIL about Saitō Musashibō Benkei, a Japanese warrior reputed to have single-handedly killed over 300 trained soldiers while defending a bridge. His combat prowess in close quarters was so formidable that his enemies had to resort to killing him with a volley of arrows. He died upright.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

AN09n TIL In 1971, the Finnish Broadcasting Company built a TV-mast in Espoo, which unintentionally transmitted Finnish shows to viewers in Soviet Estonia. Despite efforts to jam the signals by the Soviets, Finnish broadcasts drew larger audiences in northern Estonia than Soviet Central Television did.
rMGo TIL Russia has launched a campaign on ‘selfie safety’, following a spate of selfie-related accidents, among which included two men killed by a live grenade they were posing with.
4k0ga TIL In 1930, despite a petition by 1,028 economists, president Hoover passed the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act in an effort to alleviete the Great Depression. It prompted retaliatory tariffs by other countries. U.S. imports and exports fell by 67%, worsening the effects of the Great Depression
yQeEl TIL dogs that served with the US Army in Afghanistan from 2010 - 2014 were poorly treated upon discharge, some were left in kennels for many months and not cared for, while others remain unaccounted. Several soldiers later searched for and rescued their ex-partners.
Y7J5G TIL That in June 2005, 3 movies based on the HG Wells novel War of the Worlds all came out in the same month