› added 2 weeks ago

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TIL the British Navy had an entire department in WWII devoted to inventing ridiculous and unconventional weapons. They came up with ideas like exploding rats, rocket-powered wheels, and even using bird poop to blind U-BOAT periscopes.

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DJ4e TIL that as a 16 year old Ronda Rousey was a moderator of a Pokémon forum, and her username was mew182.
v1nZ8 TIL In 1969, a group of researchers trained cockroaches to race, built them a transparent case and 'invited' other cockroaches as an audience. Those 'racers' who had their species looking at them were able to race faster than those without.
Do6g TIL A Vietnam war American sniper volunteered to crawl for 3 days across 2000m of open field containing an enemy headquarters, took a single shot that killed an NVA General and then crawled back out without being spotted.
N7RMP TIL in 1989, the American Homecoming Act helped children born from U.S soldiers in Vietnam come to the U.S with their families. They based this only on the child's appearance. It was controversial since it didn't apply to the kids of U.S soldiers in other countries.
G7QQ TIL Thomas Jefferson invented the swivel chair and sat on the first one while writing much of the Declaration of Independence