› added 5 years ago

63

TIL that during WWI, no foreign coaling stations were available to Germany, and its coast was blockaded. So the Germans outfitted a sailing ship as a commerce raider and disguised it as a Norwegian woodcarrier - it sailed past the British blockade and captured 15 ships over the next two years.

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Bgred TIL A fluorocarbon called perfluorohexane has both enough oxygen and carbon dioxide with enough space between the molecules that animals submerged in the liquid can still breath normally.
R7EY8 TIL that footage is called footage because film used to be measured in feet.
XE5j6 TIL that any day of the year has a 1 in 7 chance of being celebrated as Independence Day from the British. 61 colonies have gained independence from the UK with 52 unique Independence Days.
6m5Q TIL the Portuguese Man-of-War is not a single creature, but a colony of four smaller organisms that attach to each other and cannot survive independently
Ypd9v TIL High heels were originally worn by men. Heels on boots first started showing up in the 10th century because they helped horse riders keep their feet in their stirrups.