› added 3 years ago

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TIL the Gendarmerie of Haiti, the collaborationist police-force raised by the USA during its occupation of Haiti in the early 1900s, sent a rifle team of indigenous gendarmes to the 1924 Olympics. The team won the nation's first-ever Olympic medal, a bronze, in the team free rifle event.

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grVvL TIL that snakes have forked tongues that they use to smell by flicking them in the air and bringing chemicals to an organ called the Jacobson's gan, which smells the chemicals for the snake.
OovwY TIL Weddellite crystals can be found at the bottom of a sea near Antarctica and in kidney stones in the human body.
kOgBg TIL of "The Thing", a listening device designed by the guy who invented the theremin, disguised as a gift from the Soviets to the US ambassador to spy on the US.
e0dw5 TIL that the Heaviside Layer, best known for having to do with reincarnating cats in the musical "Cats," is real, and is the reason why you can hear further radio stations at night.
ZoZv TIL there is no verification that the president is sane or the order lawful when nuclear launch orders are issued.