› added 12 years ago

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TIL the US convicted several Japanese soldiers for waterboarding American and Allied prisoners of war during WW2 and sentenced them to death

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GXyQ TIL that when the last woolly mammoths died out, the pyramids of Giza were already a thousand years old
RQr1 TIL Every year since 1947, Norway gives England a Christmas tree as a token of gratitude for their help in WW2
BrBMe TIL hippos will spray their poop using their tails in order to mark their territory. Since baby hippos' intestines are sterile, they eat their mother's feces in order to mark their territory as well.
dAD9 TIL the whip is the first man made device capable of breaking the sound barrier. Also, the crack of the whip is actually a sonic boom.
8aw9Z TIL the word "scotch" in hopscotch and butterscotch comes from the old French word "escocher", meaning to cut. In hopscotch we hop over "cuts" in the ground (it is an ancient game); butterscotch is a sheet of hard butter candy "scotched" into smaller pieces; it also led to the word "scratch"