› added 4 years ago

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TIL that Jews were forbidden by the Rabbinate from walking under the Arch of Titus in Rome, which was built in 81 AD to commemorate the Roman victory in the first Jewish–Roman War in Judea. The ban was lifted in 1948 with the establishment of the state of Israel.

vP0xB TIL about Operation X-Ray, a WW2 program to develop an incendiary bomb attached to the chests of bats. Dropped in a tube over Japanese cities, it was thought that the bats would go to roost under the eaves of the largely wooden buildings, and when the timed devices went off, the cities would burn.
LyLr TIL all copies of the film “Nosferatu” were ordered burned by a court due to a lawsuit from the heirs of Bram Stoker, who said the film was an unauthorized adaption of “Dracula” (it was). However, one copy survived the purge, and the film is recognized today as a masterpiece of horror in film.
P11ML TIL that in order to quickly identify the training of their mules in a herd, the US Army shaved bells into the tail. One bell meant the animal could pack, two meant it could pack & drive, and three meant it was also broke to ride.
0wEJy TIL a group of liberal arts students have been running a nuclear reactor for over 50 years and they scoop dropped items out of the reactor with a bucket and long stick
YWXB TIL that American speech is punctuated with “uh” & “um”, English speech with “er” & “erm”, Japanese with “ā”, “anō”, & “ēto”, German with “äh”, French with “euh”– basically, every language uses different sounds to interrupt themselves while their brain is working on forming thoughts into words.