› added 10 years ago

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TIL the Irish ‘Tri-colour’ flag symbolizes the struggle that was once in Ireland. Green represents the Catholics, orange represents the Protestants and white represents the hope for peace between both sides.

QaYL TIL the “vampire squirrel” of Borneo has the fluffiest tail of any mammal on Earth - its tail is 130% the size of its own body
rRlY1 TIL Part of the same first Chernobyl firefighter crew was sent to Kiev where the doctors dared using different method of bone marrow transplantation. While in Moscow 11 of 13 firefighters died within a week, in Kiev all 11 of 11 survived.
vP4Jr TIL A monument in Kyoto contains severed noses from 38000 Koreans and 30000 Chinese from a Japanese invasion in the 1590s. No Japanese textbook mentioned it until the 80s, after a publisher resisted pressure from the ministry of education to use a softer tone and praise the invasion leader Hideyoshi
BgBvK TIL that ancient Roman concrete is more durable than modern concrete and can heal its own cracks. It has lasted for millennia due to its unique composition, including volcanic ash, which prevents cracks from spreading. Recent studies have found that the material actually grows stronger over time.
oBMpK TIL that in 1978 an architectural student discovered that a skyscraper in NY could topple if strong winds hit the building. The engineer that is credited for designing the building then made secret nightly repairs in collaboration with the NYPD, without alerting the general public to the danger