› added 6 years ago

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TIL that during WWII, the US government made a propaganda cartoon for the army called Private Snafu, written by Dr. Seuss. One episode was never released because Seuss's script, purely by coincidence, described a fictitious secret weapon very similar to the atomic bombs later dropped on Japan.

rNWOx TIL To ensure the survival of a small group of U.S. servicemen stationed on Alaska's remote St. Matthew Island during World War II, the Coast Guard released 29 reindeer to the island. After the war the reindeer population exploded to more than 600 by 1963. By 1964 they were all gone.
jNn0X TIL that Arlington Cemetery was the estate of Robert E. Lee and his wife. It was seized by the Government during the Civil War and turned into the famous military cemetery we know today.
16K8V TIL that in Victorian England, post-mortem photography was a common way to memorialise loved ones - dead children were often posed to look alive, with painted-on eyes or blushed cheeks, and families would gather for their first and only portrait with the deceased.
m1dny TIL that White Castle, founded in 1921, predates McDonald's by nearly two decades, establishing itself as America's first fast-food hamburger chain.
0dEx5 TIL Zerão stadium’s center line is aligned with the equator according to Brazil’s geodetic system, splitting teams into different hemispheres. However, under the WGS84 system, the equator runs through the stands, placing the entire field in the northern hemisphere.