› added 5 years ago

112

TIL That during the Vietnam War, several companies requested packs of playing cards that contained nothing but the Ace of Spades, because they used them in psychological warfare. They believed enemy troops saw it as a symbol of death, and scattered them in the jungle. Thousands of packs were sent.

Read more bicyclecards.com

via reddit.com

l7ekB TIL the dunk tank evolved from a carnival game called African Dodger
l77g1 TIL Romanian prisoners would receive reduced sentences if they wrote a book.
4XkXX TIL The Australian Army has a rank in their structure called the Pioneer Sergeant. This is position is authorized to wear a beard and carry an axe. This position follows a British Army tradition dating back to 1865.
BrGpy TIL that dentists did not wear gloves or eye masks until the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 80’s. All of the current protections we are wearing may also become permanent in some areas.
lorxV TIL Pope John XII died on 14 May 964; one story relates that he died of a paralytic stroke suffered while having sex with a woman named Stefanetta. He may have died instead when the woman's husband defenestrated John or beat him to death with a hammer during the act.