› added 10 years ago

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TIL that in WWI, the Germans converted liner SMS Cap Trafalgar into an armed merchant cruiser, which they then disguised as the British liner HMS Carmania. Off the coast of Brazil, Trafalgar was attacked and sunk by a British ship. That ship was also an armed merchant cruiser; the real HMS Carmania.

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ANG9o TIL the Soviets trained dogs as anti-tank bombers, but they attacked Russian tanks instead of German ones due to a training error. The Soviets used diesel tanks for training, while German tanks ran on gasoline. The dogs' keen sense of smell led them to familiar Soviet tanks instead of the Germans.
W7rdo TIL In 1995, a boy was discovered with blood containing no trace of his father’s DNA due to an extremely rare case of partial human parthenogenesis, where the mother’s egg cell divided just prior to fertilization, making parts of his body genetically fatherless.
ZyvD TIL that “Breaking Bad” writer and director Vince Gilligan became a professional writer after submitting a fan script to “The X-Files” for its 2nd season. It became an episode and he went on to be a regular writer and producer on the X-Files.
jknN TIL The average high school student today has the same stress level as the average psychiatric patient did in the 1950s.
BgMlK TIL that in year 2000, 41 million dollars was spent to promote the new Sacagawea golden dollar. Television ads consisted of the head of George Washington superimposed upon a body, voiced by actor Michael Keaton, discussing the merits of the new dollar coin. The coin ended up being a failure.