› added 7 years ago

101

TIL While attacking a series of machine gun nests during WW2, Daniel Inouye had most his right arm shot off while arming a grenade. He pried the grenade out of his severed hand and destroyed a bunker with it before finishing the last resistance in the bunker with a one-handed Tommy gun burst.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

Z8e0D TIL that stagecoaches were called so because they travelled in small "stages" of 10-15 miles
wlEY TIL Charles Darwin suggested that the appendix may have been used for digesting leaves but, over the course of evolution, has degraded into nothing. This theory is supported by koala and horse appendixes which do just that.
9wDap TIL that many of Pompeii's residents survived the volcanic eruption -- evidence includes empty stables, empty safes, and hundreds of the unique names of Pompeii families found later in neighboring communities' records
GyGE TIL An average cat has 1-8 kittens per litter and 2-3 litters per year. During her productive life, one female cat could have more than 100 kittens. A single pair of cats and their kittens can produce as many as 420,000 kittens in just 7 years.
5YlaP TIL Harold Ramis took meth right before his military draft physical to get out of the Vietnam war.