fact
East Germans defected by various ways like digging long tunnels under the Berlin Wall, waiting for favorable winds and taking hot air balloons, sliding along aerial wires, flying ultralight aircraft and, in one case, driving a sports car at full speed through the basic, initial fortifications. 00
Blackcurrant cultivation was banned in the U.S. from the early 1900s until 2003. Less than 1% of Americans have tasted one. 00
Back in the 1980’s people were able to download Video Games from a radio broadcast by recording the sounds onto a cassette tape that they could then play on their computers. 00
Johatsu is a Japanese phenomenon where due to failed marriage, mounting debt, loss of work, failure etc, people just simply abandon everything and walk away from their life, disappear to live life anonymously in an off the grid world.Companies too can “reset your life” 00
In the 1962 World Cup, the Chilean team ate Swiss cheese before beating Switzerland, spaghetti before beating Italy, and drank vodka before beating the USSR. Then they drank coffee before their match against Brazil but lost. 00
Caffeine can cause a sense of panic attacks, especially on those prone to anxiety. 00
Tom Petty was so popular his record label wanted to charge $1 more for his 1981 album “Hard Promises” than the standard $8.98, but they backed down after he considered naming the album “$8.98”. 00
A section of passenger railroad in Alaska called the Hurricane Turn. Rather than making scheduled station stops, it operates as a flag-stop meaning passengers in this remote area can simply wave the train down to stop. It’s one of the last true flag-stop trains in the U.S. 00
In 1917 you could order a belt-fed machine gun from a Sears catalog: “Machine guns are used largely by police organizations, home guards and municipalities in case of riots.” 00
Britain’s ghost trains are rare train services in the UK which only see a couple of passengers every day. They’re only there because closing lines and stations is difficult and costly, and rail companies would rather run infrequent services than go through the cumbersome process. 00