› added 4 years ago

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TIL: Bombing Nagasaki and Hiroshima was the less deadly of the 2 options America considered to end the war: Alt was to invade Japan, costing millions of both American and Japanese lives, instead of over 200k Japanese lives lose from the bombs.

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via reddit.com

DQx7J TIL about the Varangian Guard. It was an elite military unit composed of Vikings and some Anglo-Saxons who were recruited to serve as the personal bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors. The Byzantines exclusively hired foreigners as they lacked any political allegiance.
kO9eB TIL in the USA uses spelled rather than spelt when it comes to the past tense of spell.
5GDP TIL there was a ‘father of algebra’ before Al-Khwarizmi.
VMpnD TIL: Researchers examined more than 1,000 decisions by eight Israeli judges who ruled on convicts’ parole requests. Judges granted 65 percent of requests they heard at the beginning of the day’s session and almost none at the end. Right after a snack break, approvals jumped back to 65 percent again.
KYbo9 TIL that the title of the Led Zeppelin song D'yer Mak'er is the punchline of a joke that only makes sense with an English accent.