› added 11 years ago

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TIL: Nike released a pair of shoes to commemorate St Patrick’s Day and named them ‘Black and Tans’. Unknowing to Nike the 'Black and Tans’ were a British paramilitary group that terrorised the Irish, Killing and injuring hundreds of people in Ireland during the 1920’s.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

KOmkE TIL a Russian cat was used by prisoners to sneak drugs into their penal colony near Moscow. The cat allegedly had 5.79 grams of hashish & 1.56 grams of amphetamine under its collar. Defense/prosecution lawyers each wanted the cat to support their case but it escaped from its kennel before trial.
xVaRb TIL Volkswagen used slave labor from Nazi concentration camps to produce their cars during the war.
QrBL TIL in WWI shell shock was often misdiagnosed as “cowardice or lack of underlying character”. This led to more than 200 British soldiers being executed for desertion or leaving their post without authority.
58GQ TIL that comedian Eddie Izzard can perform in 5 different languages and is working on learning 2 more
QLwE TIL a Japanese clerk broke the record for solving a complex math problem when he correctly calculated the sum of 15 numbers that were shown to him in 1.7 seconds……using an imaginary abacus.