Post * QN97M — Curious Curator

› added 1 year ago

43

TIL about the "Battle Of The Beams", a period in WW2 when the Luftwaffe used a number of increasingly accurate systems of radio navigation for night bombing, and the British fought back with a variety of their own increasingly effective means, involving jamming and deception signals.

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OGlGL TIL: Vani or Swara, is a custom where 4-14 yo girls are given in marriage or servitude to the aggrieved family in compensation for crimes. The custom started 400 years ago when 2 Pakistani tribes settled a war by giving their girls. One ruling in 2012 had 13 girls given to settle a bloody feud.

w5KP TIL a harpoon fragment patented in 1879 was found in a bowhead whale in 2007, indicating the whale was between 115 and 130 years old.

9YOv6 TIL of Sir Douglas Mawson, an Australian who led an expedition to the south pole in 1912. He went on a 3-man sledding team. On the way back to the main base, his two teammates died and most of the equipment was lost. He continued the final 100 miles back alone and survived falling down a crevasse.

5YnbB TIL that cats will sometimes shove their butts in your face because their moms would lick their buttholes clean

kOMP1 TIL about industrial melanism,where darkly pigmented insects are selected over lightly coloured ones in industrial areas,because the trees are blackened by soot and provide camouflage.