› added 1 month ago

7

TIL that Japan developed crewed suicide torpedoes called Kaiten during WWII, where pilots steered modified torpedoes into enemy ships with no way to escape.

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ADQ7g TIL that naked mole rats can't feel pain, and in addition to that, are resistant to cancers, and are the only cold-blooded mammals.
d80LB TIL To treat a malaria outbreak in Borneo, the WHO used DDT to kill mosquitoes. DDT killed wasps which were eating thatch-eating caterpillars who were eaten by geckoes & eaten by cats, who died, which led to rats, plague, & typhus. WHO had to parachute 145,000 cats into the area to kill the rats.
E61P TIL that two women born on the same day but 157 years apart, died on the same day. They both met with a friend, put on a new dress, went to a dance, and met their killers. They were killed the same way, in the same spot
W7Y7A TIL in 1858 a brawl in Congress that had erupted over slavery ended in laughter when a representative put their wig on backwards
0AGA TIL that the 5th US Congress and John Adams mandated health insurance for privately employed sailors and created a socialized government-operated Marine Hospital Service in 1798 by passing the “Act for the Relief of Sick & Disabled Seamen.”