› added 1 year ago

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Today I Learned of the Lost Battalion in WW1, an American unit who was surrounded for 6 days after pushing too far forward into German lines, subject to friendly artillery fire and their only contact was via carrier pigeon

Read more worldwar1centennial.org

via reddit.com

eRbg TIL that the last surviving veteran of the Crimean war(1853) died in only 2004, he was a tortoise called Timothy who served with the Royal Navy
X0Olk TIL The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia has 55 works by the famed folk artist Maud Lewis aswell as her entire house.
ADWxg TIL that in 2013, police in the Maldives arrested a coconut for loitering near a polling station for the presidential election. Locals feared the coconut may have been imbued with a black magic spell to influence the election as there was a Surah written on it.
WkmR8 TIL of "Harambee", a Swahili word that means "All pull together" and describes a tradition of community self-help. It comes from the Hindi "har har Ambeh"; Indian workers on the Uganda Railway invoked Amba, the Hindu god of strength, for tasks requiring a team effort, such as lifting heavy loads.
OoBgX TIL we aren't allowed to excavate the area the Graecopithecus (human's oldest direct ancestor) fossil was found because the owner of the property built a swimming pool on it.