› added 1 year ago

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TIL the Japanese baseball team the Chunichi Dragons has a Koala mascot named Doala the Koala.

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via reddit.com

oBnEK TIL that shortly before the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese government sent its declaration of war to its embassy in America. However, the message was so long and confusingly worded that by the time the embassy had it decoded and translated, the attack had already finished.
nWraP TIL the first commercial brand of root beer, was originally to be called “Root Tea,” but was instead named “Root Beer,” to make the beverage attractive to Pennsylvanian coal miners.
7rVQ7 TIL about Krista & Tatiana Hogan. Conjoined twins with a thalamic bridge allowing them to know each other's thoughts and share senses, yet each retains a distinct sense of self. Biologist Peter Watts has described them as the first natural hivemind of the human species (second source in comments)
J1dP1 TIL In 1978, a bolt got lodged in a bottlenose dolphin's (named Mr. Spock) throat during tank maintenance. With surgery ruled out as too dangerous, Northen CA theme park, Marine World, reached out to the Golden State Warriors 6'9" center, Clifford Ray, to use his long arm to retrieve the bolt.
b9pB4 TIL about Garrett Morgan who with only an elementary school education went on to patent several inventions, including an improved sewing machine and traffic signal, a hair-straightening product, and a respiratory device that would later provide the blueprint for WWI gas masks.