› added 4 months ago

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TIL that although equiped with parachutes while on air ambulance missions during WWII, the Flying Nightingales of the WAAF were instructed not to bail out and stay with the patients if their plane was shot down so that they would be on hand to provide medical support should anyone survive the crash

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Nmmb TIL that residents in Mosinee, Wisconsin held a mock Communist invasion which had concentration camps, a purged library, and inflated prices. The mayor, seemingly unaware of the plan, died due to the excitement.
rRKWy TIL "Pall Mall" cigarettes are named after Pall Mall street in London, which is named for the game Pall Mall played on that street, which is named after the French game of "Jeu de mail", which is named after the Italian game of "pallamaglio", which means "ball mallet".
jNWwa TIL that a during the battle of Gettysburg in 1863 two bullets, a three banded Union bullet and a Confederate two banded bullet collided in mid flight and are on display at the Gettysburg Museum of History.
mx9jP TIL That there are no A and B batteries because they simply quit selling as they didn't fit into the growing consumer electronics business needs after World War I
Oo6g4 TIL that Pheidippides, the man who inspired the modern marathon, initially ran 150 miles over two days to request help from Sparta before running back. He then ran the 25 miles to the battlefield near Marathon and back to Athens to announce the Greek victory over Persia in the Battle of Marathon