› added 9 years ago

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TIL that the first US Army emergency chocolate ration was designed to taste “only a bit better than ‘a boiled potato’” to keep soldiers from eating their emergency rations in non-emergency situations

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dbJr TIL of Ossip Bernstein, a famous chess grandmaster, who was sentenced to death by the Bolsheviks in 1918. While he was facing the firing squad, a russian officer that heard his name offered him the chance to prove his identity in a game of chess. He beat the officer and was released.
Br9oK TIL Stephen Hawking once threw a cocktail party for time travelers, only sending out invitations afterwards. Nobody showed up.
Nr1J TIL there is an underground network of Americans who use the internet to abandon adopted children (most adopted from overseas) and this practice is called “adoption distruption” and “private re-homing.”
wl6J TIL Matt Damon and Ben Affleck inserted an oral sex scene between the two professors in Good Will Hunting to see which studio executives actually read the script. Harvey Weinstein liked the script, but hated that scene which showed Damon & Affleck he had actually read it so they gave him the rights.
6EQZY TIL that one of the cities which is hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar isn't even built yet.