› added 12 years ago

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TIL: The province of Alberta, Canada has border guards dedicated to keeping rats out. They plant poison and dig up individual burrows. The entire province is rat-free, and rats are only allowed in zoos.

8a5vZ TIL that Navajo language was used in the WWII by the U.S. Armed Forces in the Pacific to encrypt communications. They simply had Navajo Indians talking to each other, and since the language is exceedingly complex and has no written form, not a single person in Japan knew anything about it.
WkkM9 TIL that "sex changes are not effective", according to researchers, who say there is no evidence that these operations improve the lives of transexuals, many of whom remain suicidal and severely distressed after surgery.
gr8v7 TIL: Of the Battle Of Athens, Tennessee in 1946. The Battle of Athens (sometimes called the McMinn County War) was a rebellion led by citizens in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, United States, against the local government in August 1946. The citizens, including some World War II veterans, accused ...
yVZPV TIL that nearly all of what we see as lightning is the current returning to the cloud from the ground. It appears to be coming from the cloud because it is illuminating the bolts that didn't reach the ground
8e0RK TIL about Herman Davis, a World War I soldier renowned for his extraordinary marksmanship. With just his Springfield rifle and open sights, he took out five enemy soldiers from 1,000 yards away. He humbly described it as “just a good shootin' distance.”