› added 11 years ago

95

TIL that while Japan is 62nd in terms of land size and 10th in terms of population, it has the 3rd largest economy in the world. Not only that, but it has the 2nd lowest homicide rate in the world, and 2nd highest life expectancy.

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XRdD TIL A Canadian who flew a Spitfire in WWII kept his Military history secret for 56 years because a fire destroyed his log books and uniforms.
yVdYv TIL Leonardo Da Vinci wrote backwards in 'mirror writing', writing right to left with all letters reversed. One theory on why he did this was because he was left-handed and didn't want to smudge the ink.
jRgj TIL Soviet pseudoscientist Lysenko promoted Marxist theories in agriculture like “there will be no ‘class warfare’ among plants of the same species, so seeds can be planted close together and will grow in harmony.” The adoption of these ideas in China caused crop failure and millions of deaths.
LQAEv TIL - until 2015, when the United States military would train and use dogs in helping with the war effort, once they became no longer useful or too old they were considered “retired” and simply abandoned.
rNYpy TIL that in 2013 a climber found a box full of rubies, sapphires, and emeralds on a remote glacier on Mont Blanc. Authorities determined they were likely from an Indian plane that crashed there in 1966 and gave the climber half the gems (worth $169,000) to reward his honesty in turning them in.