› added 5 years ago

72

TIL: Potato bugs are legitimately called "Jerusalem Crickets" but despite their common names, these insects are neither true crickets nor true bugs, nor are they native to Jerusalem.

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via reddit.com

WPj8 TIL prisoners in the female-only concentration camp Ravensbruck purposefully sewed socks with thin heels and toes so German soldier’s feet would get sore.
XwMX TIL that, during the Korean war, American soldiers gave the codename “Tootsie Rolls” to 60MM mortar ammo, ana in one occasion they were accidentally sent crates full of candy after their request for more ammo
dDjv8 TIL scientists discovered a 500-year-old map that accurately depicted Antarctica before it was officially discovered. It also shows the coastline of Antarctica without ice, something that shouldn’t have been possible, since the continent wasn’t officially discovered until 1820
yk78 TIL: In the first episode of Futurama, Bender takes Fry to the Head Museum saying, “It’s Free on Tuesdays.” December 31st 2999 will, in fact, be a Tuesday.
KX69 TIL that during the siege of Jerusalem in 1917, the British, in an effort to capture the city from an entrenched Ottoman garrison, started to airdrop cigarettes filled with large doses of Opium, hoping that the Ottomans would be too stoned to fight. It worked.