› added 7 years ago

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TIL about Melanesia Sergeant Major Jacob Vouza who was captured by the Japanese, hung from a tree and beaten with rifles, tied to a red ant hill, bayonetted seven times in the chest and once in the throat, but still managed to chew through his restraints and deliver news of the impending attack

J1dKB TIL that humans have been wearing clothes for at least 40,000 years. We know this because human body lice can’t survive outside of clothes, and genetic evidence shows that they diverged from head lice 40,000-170,000 years ago.
XEOyX TIL the kilogram is currently defined as the mass of a platinum-iridium cylinder called the International Prototype Kilogram, which was made in 1879 and is stored in a special vault in France. There exist several dozen official replicas, also called prototypes.
nW8LP TIL the dismissive term "pish posh", meaning something between “Don’t be a silly goose” and “Gimme a break, dude”, has been around since the 16th century and has nothing to do with "posh", meaning fancy. Also, lexicography can be funny!
D1llY TIL that Pelé’s last game was an exhibition match between his two former clubs: the New York Cosmos and Santos. Pelé played the first half for Cosmos and the second half for Santos.
YeoG TIL Hugh Glass, in 1823, was mauled nearly to death by a grizzly in South Dakota, but killed it with a knife, was left for dead with no supplies, set his own broken leg and crawled on his side for more than 200 miles, for 6 weeks, until he reached civilization. He survived.