› added 11 years ago

95

TIL that aerial dogfights used to be pilots shooting at each other with pistols and throwing bricks

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grYv4 TIL that 'Brinicles' occur when newly formed sea ice pushes it's impurities out at extremely low temperatures. It instantly freezes surrounding sea ice and any unlucky creatures nearby when it reaches the sea floor.
7Blx TIL that Komodo Dragons actually do have venom-producing glands and are “remarkably clean” animals, debunking the 30 year assumption that they used harmful bacteria from rotting flesh.
oRY1W TIL that Elizabeth I had a lot of missing teeth from eating too much sweets, making it difficult for foreign ambassadors to understand what she was saying.
yQy5l TIL native English speakers say adjectives in a specific order: opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, and purpose. An example of this is the normal sounding "silly old fool" vs the weird sounding "old silly fool".
rLx0 TIL in 2011 a Gurkha single-handedly held off 12 Taliban as they attacked his base. Alone on the roof, he fought ‘an onslaught of rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s’. He fired over 400 rounds, launched 17 grenades and detonated a mine. After his gun failed, he threw his tripod to fend a man off.