Post * Vv1p — Curious Curator

› added 8 years ago

55

TIL during WWI a British recruitment tool called the “Pals Battalion” allowed people from the same town to enter the military together. Though it increased enlistment rolls, it also devastated whole regions of the UK whenever a battalion experienced heavy casualties. By WWII the idea was abandoned.

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BgJMe TIL that since sunfishes are susceptible to skin parasites, they sometimes break the surface of the water with its dorsal fin and beak to attract the attention of a gull or similar seabird. The seabird will then dig worms and other stubborn parasites out of the fish's skin.

JYwNV TIL in one variation of the Milgram experiment, subjects were directed to shock a "cute, fluffy puppy" instead of a human. Only half of the male subjects, and all of the female subjects obeyed the orders.

OoJDL TIL that Japanese scientists had cultivated enough CowPox to infect all the people in the United States and were ready to deploy it via ocean crossing balloons which had already delivered bombs but Emperor Hirohito did not permit it.

OGyE7 TIL that, in 1920s Paris, James Joyce would get drunk, start fights, and then hide behind Ernest Hemingway for protection, screaming, "Deal with him, Hemingway!"

Zpx6G TIL that the backup crew for Apollo 12 snuck Playboy pictures into the prime crew’s mission checklist. It also contained geology jokes, such as “observe the protuberances.”