› added 4 years ago

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TIL German u-boat U-507 almost single handily drew Brazil into WWII. Patrolling the south Atlantic in 1942, she torpedoed and sank multiple Brazilian passenger ships - between August 16-17, five ships were sunk, taking over 600 civilians with them. Brazil would declare war on Germany on August 22

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d8LMK TIL: Blood types evolved over time with A being the oldest in pre-humans and with B, O, and AB evolving starting about 5 million years ago.
jxbN TIL that the English county of Sussex was divided into Rapes.
awMNZ TIL that Mount Everest has so much garbage and equipment left behind by climbers, that the Government of Nepal now demands that each climber deposit $4,000, which is refundable only if the climber brings down at least 17.6 pounds of trash on his or her way off the mountain.
l7M1a TIL The earliest known examples of the merit system for selecting bureaucrats based on their ability (rather than their political connections or high birth) date back to the Qin and Han dynasties of China, between the 3rd Century BCE and 2nd Century CE.
grZr4 TIL in 1862 atmospheric rivers created a 40-day mega-storm in California that utterly destroyed a third of the state. Research shows that such a storm happens every 200 years.