› added 9 years ago

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TIL the United states never ratified two protocols of the Geneva convention including the outlaw of indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations.

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xGB7 TIL that “it is practically impossible to write French correctly using a keyboard that has been bought in France”, says the country’s government. Because the AZERTY layout makes typing certain accented letters difficult (especially capitals), many don’t use them, changing the language.
loNY5 TIL a U.S. Army veteran used his military sharp-shooting skills to rescue a bald eagle which had been hanging upside down in a tree for days with its leg tangled in a rope, 70 ft from the ground; Jason Galvin fired 150 shots from a .22 rifle with scope at the rope until it released the eagle.
KYNga TIL that both George Washington and Ben Franklin disagreed with the Boston Tea Party, and Franklin even offered to pay the British back for the destruction of the tea
7rOPb TIL about the mid-Atlantic or transatlantic accent. It was not a natural accent; it was generally taught to actors and the upper class in north eastern American society. Many news reels from the 30s and 40s reek of it. Transatlantic accent fell out of vogue after World War 2.
M7Qa TIL that in 1953 the United States government detonated a nuclear bomb in Utah more powerful than Little Boy of Hiroshima. The bomb, nicknamed Harry, was known to the Utahans as Dirty Harry because of the large amount of fallout.