› added 3 weeks ago

7

TIL that the word "shrapnel" comes from Lieutenant-General Henry Scrope Shrapnel, inventor of the first Shrapnel shell, whose name eventually came to be associated with the metal fragments his creation produced.

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Qygk TIL that in 1952 North Korea once held an “Inter Camp Olympics” for P.O.Ws as a publicity stunt, with some 500 prisoners taking part in events like American Football and Basketball.
pYvnp TIL: The Varna Culture's grave goods contain several times more gold than the other excavated sites from the same millennium combined
lod6G TIL that a tardigrade, aka water bears, is practically the world's toughest animal. They can survive without water for up to 3 decades, extreme temperatures, extreme pressure, exposure to outer space, starvation, and survived all 5 mass extinction events. They can also perform cryptobiosis and more.
Rlp8 TIL that it is estimated that the wealth of the royal Saudi family is around 1,4 trillion dollars.
p8dXN TIL that the Bramley apple, a widespread cooking apple, and all of its trees originated from a single tree that was planted by accident 200 years ago. That tree is still alive today