› added 3 months ago

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TIL about Penitentes, rare natural snow formations, named as such after the hooded penitents of Easter

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6EkPJ TIL of Washington Phillips who recorded several songs in the late 1920s on an instrument he built himself. He was the only one who could play it and what it was exactly remains a mystery.
dDKMr TIL driving one mile uses the equivalent petroleum needed to make 14 plastic bags. A 24mpg car with a 15 gallon tank equivalently burns over 5000 plastic bags per fill.
MejpK TIL that snipe hunting is a real thing. Snipe are waterfowl that overwinter in marshes, bogs and wet meadows. They are notoriously difficult to hunt and the word "snipe" is the etymological root of the word "sniper" we use today.
b6jR9 TIL US bought three islands (US Virgin Islands) from Denmark in 1917.
69VAW TIL about Birendra Mazumdar. He was a little-known Indian-British hero of the infamous Colditz Castle POW prison during World War II, who defied the Nazis. He was shunned and treated terribly by the British, facing racism and accusations of theft, corruption and treason when he escaped.