› added 8 years ago

170

TIL Avocados are actually really large berries.

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dDNj8 TIL that Roald Dahl (the author) also contributed to medical science by helping develop the Wade-Dahl-Till valve, a cerebral shunt used to treat hydrocephalus after his son was in an accident
ly1V TIL Plans were in place to sever all communication w/ Astronauts on the moon if they had been stranded by a technical failure.
GYdRN TIL Graveyards for unclaimed remains are called "potter's field" because "potter's fields" were places where clay was harvested, and left with unfilled holes and barren soil. Historically, they were used as a cheap and efficient way to inter unclaimed human remains, on land nobody wanted.
J1B9l TIL that during World War II, US Army Lieutenant Colonel Cohen was selected by General Patton to organize a raid to rescue Patton's son-in-law from a German camp; Cohen was prevented from leading the raid due to hemorrhoids. Patton personally examined Cohen and remarked, "that is some sorry ass."
wo8ZP TIL that during the 1500s and 1600s, Spain claimed the entire Pacific Ocean as its territory and considered any entrance by foreign ships to be unlawful.