› added 8 years ago

119

TIL 4% of the sand on Normandy beaches is made up of shrapnel from D-Day landings, broken down over the decades into sand-sized chunks.

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V4xD TIL In 1965 a machine was patented to deliver a baby using centrifugal force. The machine would spin you until the baby came out, and it would be caught in a net.
ANw1d TIL that in 1563, Johann Weyer argued against Witch hunts and instead that the accused should be treated as having a mental illness.
neKE7 TIL that despite their name and musical style, Skid Row (the band) were not from Los Angeles, but rather Toms River, New Jersey.
wLwJW TIL that although she is best-known for nursing, Florence Nightingale was actually a pioneer of statistics, creating the polar graph, and using data to effect change on sanitation practices in India
XEgAP TIL about Pals Battalions. British army units consisting of men from the same town or profession during the First World War. They were created as a way to boost morale. They did not take into account that almost the entire male population of a town would be wiped out in a single battle.