› added 8 years ago

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TIL ‘Macaroni’ was an 18th century expression for fops who dressed in high fashion with tall, powdered wigs. The joke being made in “Yankee Doodle” is that Americans were allegedly naive enough to believe that a feather in the hat was a sufficient mark of a macaroni.

YpeEB TIL that there was another general Paulus responsible for the fall of an empire. After revolting against the western roman emperor, the Heruli stormed on Italy. General Paulus was leading the remainder of the roman army. The Battle of Ravenna was the finishing blow to the empire.
wL8xP TIL if engulfed in flames in a forest fire, some fire trucks can go into burnover mode when a sprinkler system keeps watering the truck (including each tyre) while the fire fighters hide behind heat shields.
AeGd TIL that the word “quisling”, or a person who collaborates with an enemy occupying force, is derived from a man named Vidkun Quisling, who headed a domestic Nazi collaborationist regime in Norway during the Second World War. His name is now synonymous with the word “traitor”.
B8L TIL that the mascot for the Arkansas School for the Deaf is the Leopard. They’re the leopards that are deaf. The Deaf Leopards.
wLlRJ TIL Howard Foote Jr's took an A-4 Skyhawk for a joyride, his safety attributed to experience, skill, and ~100 hours on a flight simulator. Charges brought against him included hazarding a vessel. After 4.5 months in the brig, he got off with just time served and an other-than-honorable discharge.