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TIL in WW2 that Raymond Collishaw, leading pilots who were outnumbered and outgunned, flew their only Hawker Hurricane from base to base and on as many missions as possible to make the Italians believe that they had many. The plan worked as the Italians spread their resources out thinly.

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pYP18 TIL that, in school, boys are graded more harshly than girls for the same work.
mxwno TIL that Japan has a phone to call the dead. The "wind phone" was created by a man named Itaru Sasaki, who thought that it would be a healing way to talk to his cousin who had passed away—even if the conversation was one-sided. Others now also use the phone in order to feel closer to their deceased.
OGYOX TIL during World War II thousands of 2nd generation Japanese-Americans enlisted in the Army and were sent to the Military Intelligence Service Language School to study Japanese. They learned specific military terms, and trained to become interpreters, interrogators, and intelligence officers.
l7eJB TIL Cleopatra wasn’t just alluring; she was crafty too. So the myth goes, she made a grand entrance to impress Julius Caesar by having herself rolled up in a carpet and delivered to his quarters. When the carpet was unrolled, out she came, nude and irresistible.
4Xnm5 TIL the 1992 Joe Pesci comedy My Cousin Vinny is praised by legal experts as being one if the most accurate film depictions of courtroom procedure and trial strategy. It is even cited in textbooks on law.