› added 7 months ago

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TIL about unsinkable Sam, a cat who "served" in both sides of the war and survived the sinking of three boats

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G9kg TIL that a Greek prime minister in 1830’s tried to spread the potato in Greece but people weren’t interested so he put armed guards in front of shipments of potatoes so people would think they were important. People later started stealing these potatoes a lot which spread the crop to all of Greece.
eoLk TIL during World War II, the British secret service set up fake charities to distribute care packages with special copies of the board game Monopoly to prisoners of war in Germany. The game contained real compasses; metal files; French, German, and Italian money; and maps.
NL1E TIL popcorn became popular during the Great Depression because it was fairly inexpensive.
Wv7d TIL that a group of islands in the Pacific called the Pitcairn Islands are some of the most remote islands in the world with a population of ~50 people. The islands have a very interesting history and are accepting applications for new residents!
W8lN TIL 4% of the sand on Normandy beaches is made up of shrapnel from D-Day landings, broken down over the decades into sand-sized chunks.