› added 3 years ago

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TIL that in 1967, Australian prime minister Harold Holt disappeared whilst swimming in the sea, something he loved to do, never to be seen again.

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e01w6 TIL of the "Vegetable Lamb of Tartary", a myth from the Middle Ages about a plant that sprouted sheep instead of fruit. For hundreds of years people would write about & even draw this wool-covered plant. We now know what it was: the cotton plant.
5Vgxp TIL that Ocean Sunfish are the heaviest bony fish in the world. The heaviest has been recorded at an astonishing 5,100lbs (2,300kg) with an average weight between 545 and 2,205 lbs.
R5oj7 TIL about the Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka. It was a rocket-powered human-guided kamikaze attack aircraft. Although extremely fast, the very short range of the Ohka meant that it had to be carried into action as a parasite aircraft by a much larger bomber
9wxEp TIL the soldier credited with killing John Wilkes Booth was a religious fanatic who cut his own balls off with a pair of scissors after being propositioned by a prostitute.
ZpEkR TIL It's suspected that the last word in the English dictionary (zyzzyva) was intentionally crafted to be at the end. Irish entomologist Thomas Casey named a newly discovered species of beetle with no etymological roots.