› added 1 year ago

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TIL not all chordates are vertebrates! There are some funky sponge things and some other funky fish-ish things.

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JYMK8 TIL Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, devised a WWII plan to plant false info about the Allies’ next attack on a dead man, drift him at sea, and hope he’d be found by Nazi sympathizers. Operation Mincemeat worked, turning the tide for the Allies, who stormed Italy while the Nazis defended Greece.
YpAY7 TIL of Frederick McKinley Jones - an orphaned black American who, in the 1930s when racial segregation was the norm, invented the first successful automatic refrigeration system for trucks. This lead to the development of supermarkets and better combat-zone medical supply.
5Yw19 TIL that in April 1943, Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto started an uprising against the Nazis. The revolt ended a month later, resulting in the deaths of only 100 Nazis, and over 57000 Jews being killed during the Uprising or in the aftermath.
9YAvM TIL that when Cato the Younger attempted suicide in secret to avoid capture by Caesar, his sword missed any vital organs, slicing open his stomach. When he awoke to a doctor stitching him up, Cato pushed him away, tore out his intestines with his bare hands, and died on the spot.
Oxd1 TIL The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, stood for a mere 50 years before it was destroyed by an earthquake. Its ruins stood and attracted visitors for way longer than the original statue (reportedly hundreds of years) before it was finally recycled for scrap metal.