› added 12 years ago

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TIL 2,000 year-old seeds were discovered in Israel around 1965 to be held in storage for the next 40 years. After they were planted, a tree that has been extinct for 1,800 years sprouted.

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VmyZ TIL That in World War I, the Germans tried to use a picture of Quentin Roosevelt’s body as propoganda to increase moral. This backfired, as soldiers wondered why the sons of American Presidents were fighting and dying at the front, while the Kaiser’s sons were not.
y15M TIL that the US is on 43rd place on freedom of press
xVNpg TIL about Basil II. He is said to have captured 15,000 prisoners and fully blinded 99 of every 100 men, leaving one one-eyed man in each cohort to lead the rest back to their ruler. The king of Bulgaria was struck down by the sight of his blinded army and died two days later after suffering a stroke
awxbZ TIL that German born actor Werner Klemperer (Col. Klink from Hogan's Heroes) actually served in the US Army during WWII.
ElQ7 TIL - Vermont abolished slavery in 1777, while it was still independent, and when it joined the United States as the 14th state in 1791 it was the first state to join untainted by slavery.