› added 2 weeks ago

5

TIL that the phrase "Lock and Load" came from John Wayne mixing up the actual command of "Load and Lock" in the movie "The Sands of Iwo Jima".

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P11Og TIL Sperm Whales are often found with tentacle scars which indicates that they regularly fight with Giant Squids
Mev90 TIL of a French soldier who was taken as a POW and fed only potatoes during his captivity, and survived. Feeling like he should have died, he made it his life’s mission to convince the world of the nutritional value of potatoes, and his tomb in France is decorated with potatoes as a tribute.
XEYRQ TIL that for 8 years the CIA ran Operation Midnight Climax, brothels in NYC and San Fran where they secretly administered drugs to johns to study the effects.
Xm6j TIL that the stereotype of African Americans loving fried chicken dates back to the Civil War, as chickens were generally the only animals slaves could raise on their own.
D1KQe TIL about the Frenchman Philippe Petit. In 1971 he was 45 minutes on a wire that was stretched between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. At one point, he even lay down on the wire.