› added 9 years ago

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TIL That after a Colonel called his men “animals” for cutting off the heads of Japanese dead and impaling them on poles, one soldier responded “That’s right Colonel, we are animals. We live like animals, we eat and are treated like animals–what the fuck do you expect?”

D1kGD TIL that the public transportation in Zanzibar (an autonomous region of Tanzania) is called "Daladala". During the 1970s and 1980s, public transport cost a Dollar to travel to the nearest town. Travelling to town cost a Dollar ("Dala") and returning cost a Dollar, hence the term "Daladala"
p8vbA TIL that while preparing a speech to create a permanent soil erosion service, Hugh H. Bennett was notified of a dust storm approaching Washington DC. He pushed back meeting with Congress until it was estimated to arrive to conclude with opening up the curtains to a dramatic view of a dust storm.
9wYMD TIL that popcorn originates all the way back to the Aztec Empire . Where corn, and particularly popcorn, helped lay the foundations for the Aztec Empire.
5YPKP TIL that Robert Downey Jr. only got clean because his girlfriend (now wife) saw him on drugs, then gave him an ultimatum of quitting or losing her. He stopped at a Burger King on the coast and threw his drugs in the ocean. She is now known around Hollywood as "the Miracle That Saved Robert Downey."
x6KE7 TIL in WW2, when Germans captured a British bomber tail gunner who claimed that he had jumped out of his plane at 5500m without a parachute, they investigated and confirmed his claim and gave him a certificate to confirm his story.