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TIL that some early Chinese munitions consisted of black powder in a bamboo tube along with a live rat. When fired toward the enemy, the flaming rats created great psychological ramifications—scaring enemy soldiers away and causing cavalry units to go wild

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Y7VaW TIL that the Giotto spacecraft, whose aim was to study Halley's comet as it passed close to Earth in 1986, takes its name from the Italian painter Giotto di Bondone, who in 1305 depicted the star of Bethlehem as a comet in painting his Adoration of the Magi. Halley passed close to Earth in 1301.
ADRMl TIL Eleven and Twelve do not follow the teen pattern because they come from Old English terms that mean "one left after ten" and "two left after ten," or "ain-lif" and "twa-lif," due to the fact that these numbers were used commonly, unlike the other teens, and therefore developed much earlier.
9YaKQ TIL a Yosemite Park ranger said designing garbage cans for the park is a difficult task because they have to be easy enough for humans to open, but complex enough so bears can't, citing a "considerable overlap" between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists.
9YNvp TIL at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, an 18-year old Union lieutenant, Arthur MacArthur, took his regimental flag and led the charge to the summit, an act for which he received the Medal of Honor. His son was Douglas MacArthur, the general in charge of the Pacific theater during WWII.
9YNYr TIL Canned Heat’s singer died after being handed a vial of drugs by a fan. He thought it was coke and stuck a straw in it and snorted, but it turned out to be heroin.