› added 3 months ago

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TIL that Dr. Leopold Poetsch (or Pötsch), an Austrian history teacher and ardent supporter of Pan-Germanism, influenced Hitler's nationalistic views while teaching him at the Linz high school.

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6E66Q TIL that the word "soccer" was originally widely used British slang for "asSOCiation football", and didn't become common in America until they learned it from the British during WWII. It didn't become unpopular in the UK until the '80s, as a direct response to its use by Americans
8a0e8 TIL about the real-life Lord of the Flies, i.e. what happened when six teenage boys were shipwrecked on a deserted island for 15 months
VMnZ TIL: A species of locust with a uniquely large swarm density used to plague the United States and Canada until extinction in 1903, leaving western North America with an agricultural advantage over most other areas.
rXo1 TIL that TEL (tetraethyl lead), an octane booster gasoline additive that was killing Standard Oil Refinery workers or rendering them mad in the 1920’s, wasn’t’ banned by the United States until 1986 largely due to business interests.
awARJ TIL in Switzerland it is forbidden to have only 1 guinea pig, rabbit or parakeet, you must have at least 2, cause they are social animals and they would suffer, if they lived alone.