› added 2 years ago

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TIL That the Lion is the King of the Jungle, because the Hindi word Jungle means arid plain/desert or generally "Wilderness", like where Lions actually live, and that the current meaning, a dense often Tropical Forest is likely due to the British.

XexD TIL after reading newspaper accounts of a family dying after their refrigerator leaked toxic gas into their home, Albert Einstein and a student invented a refrigeration system with no moving parts. Now known as the Einstein Refrigerator, modern refinements may see it soon hit the market.
gv1A TIL During the Battle of the Bulge, American soldiers used knowledge of baseball to determine if others were fellow Americans or if they were German infiltrators in American uniforms.
B4rr TIL a Russian named Vasili Arkhipov avoided causing WWIII after refusing his captain’s orders to launch nuclear torpedoes at US war ships during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. 2 of the 3 officers on board wanted to fire the missile, however a unanimous decision was required.
OoKma TIL Robert Healey spent $35.31 on a third party RI gubernatorial campaign & won 22% of the vote. Healey ran on the Cool Moose Party ticket for Governor in the 1990s & won 39% of the vote for lieutenant governor on a platform of abolishing the office.
O5Jg TIL Timothy Cole, while always maintaining his innocence despite an offer for a shorter sentence, died 14 years into a 25 year sentence for a rape DNA tests later showed he did not commit