› added 9 years ago

268

TIL that Australia is as big as the continental United States of America

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via reddit.com

jNQav TIL that in 1939, the US army was ranked nineteenth in size in the world, behind Portugal and only slightly ahead of Bulgaria. Its equipment was obsolete, and it relied heavily on horses
M7JQ8 TIL that shortly after WW1 started, Pope Pius X "The Pontiff Supreme " and the Black Pope died within hours of each other. The Black Pope was Francis Xavier Wernz General of the Jesuits. The Black Pope got its name from robes that the Society of Jesus (aka Jesuits) members wear
ZpDgQ TIL a Chinese company marketed a bottle-shaped vibrating device for women that claimed if you sucked on it for 10 minutes, it would help form a v-shaped chin on the head of the user. V lined features are considered attractive in Asian countries.
Z8vGp TIL that 1984 by George Orwell was banned in the USSR for being Anti-Communist, but also banned in the USA for being Pro-Communist.
D1MeV TIL future Martian settlements will likely be set up inside Mars' large lava tubes. These tubes are effectively caverns with roofs tens of meters thick and with stable ambient temperature. They would protect human settlers and human technology from the extreme conditions that exist on the surface.