› added 8 years ago

84

TIL That in 1860 an Anglo-French expedition force burned and sacked the Old Summer Palace in China, it covered an area of 3.5 square kilometres (860 acres), almost five times the size of the Forbidden City grounds and eight times the size of the Vatican City.

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gMkDW TIL that instead of saying "once upon a time," Korean fantasies usually begin with "back when tigers used to smoke".
8arwb TIL: pets can donate blood for use in surgeries on other animals - and dogs typically donate 450ml, which is the same as humans do (in the UK).
wowQ8 TIL Biting insects continue to be used as sutures in parts of Africa and South America. The edges of the wound are brought together, and an ant is allowed to bite through both ‘lips’; when its jaws are firmly locked, the insect’s thorax and abdomen are broken off, leaving the head and jaws.
xb6B TIL “Lazy Dogs” are explosiveless bombs that are only 1.75inches across and are dropped over a battlefield. They pack the punch of a 50.cal
v1Jxj TIL about the Kentucky Meat Shower, an incident in which chunks of meat mysteriously fell from the sky in 1876.