› added 4 years ago

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TIL that in 1939, the US army was ranked nineteenth in size in the world, behind Portugal and only slightly ahead of Bulgaria. Its equipment was obsolete, and it relied heavily on horses

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via reddit.com

KdbB TIL the Bikini Atoll’s flag is similar to the USA flag, with black stars representing islands destroyed by nuclear testing, to serve as a reminder of the debt the US still owes them for nuclear fallout and radiation poisoning.
j6Dj TIL that the original surveyors of Mount Everest lied and added 2 feet to its height to make it 29,002 feet, because they didn’t think people would believe them if they said it was really 29,000 feet high.
grZL4 TIL The oldest person alive is 116 and was born in 1907
JZNv TIL the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution, which delays laws affecting Congressional salary from taking effect until after the next election of representatives, took 202 years to pass. It was outstanding from Sept 25, 1789 until May 5, 1992.
PnAV TIL that mothers in Canada can get up to a year of maternity leave, whereas the max amount in the U.S. is only 12 weeks.