› added 3 years ago

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TIL despite the stereotype linking them to Switzerland, Cuckoo Clocks were actually invented and popularised in Germany

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via reddit.com

a86XL TIL: One of the first attempts to develop a guidance system for bombs involved training a pigeon to peck at the image of a target on a screen inside the bomb.
D15Qg TIL Tori Amos taught herself to play piano at the age of 2, and started composing at the age of 3. She was admitted into the Peabody Conservatory at the age of 5, but lost the scholarship six years later, reportedly due to her dislike for using sheet music and interest in rock and pop music.
1a0B4 TIL Winston Churchill was the 3rd great grandson of a Major in the Revolutionary War.
QJR5E TIL of an organization in Belgium training giant rats (nicknamed "HeroRATs") to sniff out landmines in countries where explosive remnants of war pose a large threat to communities. The rats are extremely effective, outperforming both metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs.
4Mjo TIL that Goodyear developed a small inflatable airplane called the “Inflatoplane” with funding from the United States Army in 1956. The project was scrapped because it could not find a “valid military use for an aircraft that could be brought down by a well-aimed bow and arrow.”