› added 7 years ago

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TIL Christmas tradition dictates that a man is allowed to kiss any woman standing underneath mistletoe and that bad luck will befall any woman who refuses the kiss. With each kiss a berry is to be plucked from the mistletoe and the kissing must stop after all the berries have been removed.

Lk50d TIL that the Soviet Union successfully landed 10 probes on the surface of Venus between the years 1961 and 1984. In spite of the short life spans of the Venera landers due to the extreme surface conditions, several of the landers were still successful in transmitting imagery from the surface.
bNyE TIL that spiders use fluid movement/hydraulics to “push” their legs forward. They lack the muscles to do so normally and use fluid pressure to do so. This is also why their legs curl up when they die and if their body gets punctured, their body “deflates” and is rendered useless.
6EjpQ TIL there's an annual competition in Cumbria, England for the title of "World's Biggest Liar." Only one woman has won in the history of the contest and politicians are not allowed to enter.
9Ebr TIL the “Door to Hell” in Turkmenistan is a natural gas field that collapsed into an underground cavern in 1971, becoming a natural gas crater. Wanting to prevent spread of methane gas, Geologists set it on fire expecting it to burn out in a few weeks- It has instead continued to burn for >4 decades
AD6yn TIL - During WW1 the UK and Canada had battalions comprised entirely of men between 4'-10" and 5'-3" tall known as the Bantam Battalions.