› added 1 year ago

45

TIL, the Finnish air force academy still uses a swastika on its flag and insignia. Finnish use of the swastika was unrelated to their alliance with Nazi Germany, and predated Nazi adoption of the symbol. Finland stopped using the swastika in most other parts of the military for obvious reasons.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

6ExQw TIL Hans Zimmer, composer extraordinaire behind Interstellar among others, played synthesizers with The Buggles ("Video Killed the Radio Star").
ENw7 TIL that seven states in the US ban atheists from holding public office. Which is unconstitutional, but still on the books.
AN60g TIL that the stories of Sinbad, Aladdin and Ali Baba weren’t in the original Arabic versions of “One Thousand and One Nights.” Sinbad was added centuries later, and the others were added by a French translator based on stories he heard from a Syrian writer visiting Paris.
GYOa1 TIL children and pregnant women will absorb more consumed lead (50% of volume) than a non-pregnant adult (5-10%) because children's and pregnant women's bodies have a higher demand for calcium (and Pb readily substitutes for Ca).
LkXVr TIL at the Battle of Cowpens during the American Revolution, an American officer used his Spontoon (spear) to pole vault onto, and capture, a British cannon