› added 11 years ago

181

TIL that Cinco de Mayo is a bigger deal in the US then it is in Mexico.

Read more latinamericanhistory.about.com

via reddit.com

NRm8 TIL a soldier posted on Peleliu in 1944 craved ice-cream so much that together with aircraft engineers put a can filled with milk onto the underside of each wing tip of their planes, attaching a stirring shaft to a wind-driven propeller and then taking off. They made 100 portions of ice every day.
ddoQ TIL that some scorpions can shed their tail in order to escape a predator… but doing so also removes their anus (which is found in the tail!) and renders them unable to poop. They can live this way for another eight months.
W7w8o TIL that one in 18 people have a third nipple. Known as polythelia, the third nipple is caused by a mutation in inactive genes.
NWbb TIL that there’s a perpetual student named Michael W. Nicholson who has earned 29 degrees
9Yg1B TIL Rifles like the AK-47 have curved magazines because their bullet cases are conical (a.k.a "tapered") rather than cylindrical. Thus, they stack in a curve. Tapered cases have less friction with the chamber when they feed or extract.