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TIL that before the French coined the term, “camouflage,” the British during WW1 called it “Dazzle-painting”.

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via reddit.com

Me5LV TIL the Chinese city of Fancheng held out for nearly 6 years against the Mongols - until Kublai Khan's nephew sent him Muslim engineers from Iran that built counterweight trebuchets, with a range of 1,600 ft. and launching projectiles weighing 660 lbs. The city fell within a few days.
WkGK9 TIL Billy Joel attempted suicide by drinking furniture polish and ended up in a coma at Meadowbrook Hospital
VMV94 TIL about John Snow who is considered, for his persistent efforts to determine how cholera was spread and for the statistical mapping methods he initiated, to be the father of modern epidemiology.
e0QDk TIL the smiley face logo was created in 1963 by Harvey Ball. He was paid $45 for 10 minutes of work. Ball didn't trademark the logo. Instead, French journalist Franklin Loufrani registered it as "Smiley" for licensing. Today that license generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annually.
Ra79 TIL that the Ku Klux Klan successfully adopted a road in Missouri. The Missouri state legislature fought back by renaming the road after civil rights icon Rosa Parks.