› added 2 months ago

5

TIL that, on gaining power, the Nazis immediately targeted the civil service with a 1933 law to improve “professionalism” by expunging non-Aryans and political opponents. This law was a key reason why Einstein fled to America.

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BgrPD TIL a drop of rain that fell in Lake Superior in the 1650s would be reaching the Atlantic Ocean about now.
gMJwA TIL that when the British monarchy was restored in 1660 under Charles II, the body of Oliver Cromwell was dug up, hanged in chains and beheaded as a posthumous execution for the crime of signing Charles I's death warrant. His head was then owned by various people till its burial in 1960.
m1W6P TIL that lobsters communicate by peeing on each other.
6Ep7m TIL that "gridiron" is actually a grill and not just a nickname for an (American) football field. I also learned that American football is also called gridiron football.
9YJam TIL of the nocturnal eastern quoll, a cat-sized marsupial once extinct in Australia then re-introduced from Tasmania. Quolls are related to Tasmanian devils; both are carnivorous marsupials, and quolls have been known to snatch food from Tasmanian devils.