› added 8 years ago

100

TIL Sperm whales are the loudest animals on Earth. Their calls reach up to 230 decibels.

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yVNpw TIL that the famous James Bond theme (first heard 1962) was source of a long running dispute between John Barry and Monty Norman. Norman had originally written a song for a musical adaptation of V. S. Naipaul's novel "A House for Mr Biswas" which was the inspiration. (link of the song in comments)
1xpD TIL that in 2001, a Norwegian container ship rescued 438 refugees in open ocean between Indonesia and Australia. The ship was then refused entry into Australian waters, but entered anyway. Australia then sent troops to board the ship.
ANG9o TIL the Soviets trained dogs as anti-tank bombers, but they attacked Russian tanks instead of German ones due to a training error. The Soviets used diesel tanks for training, while German tanks ran on gasoline. The dogs' keen sense of smell led them to familiar Soviet tanks instead of the Germans.
rRd0e TIL that Queen Victoria is credited with spreading the tradition of brides wearing white dresses to their weddings. After her wedding to Albert in 1840, the colour white became a status symbol of wealth and power, and others quickly followed her example.
ANZJn TIL that though Nintendo is usually credited with having the first rumble feature in a controller, Sony released their first rumble controller first -- by 2 days