› added 7 years ago

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TIL of Bobbie the Wonder Dog, who walked a distance of at least 2,551 miles (4,105 km) through plains, desert, and mountains in the winter to return home to his family, swimming in rivers and even crossing the Continental Divide in the coldest part of winter.

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kJkn1 TIL new Enfield Pattern 1853 rifle in army sparked the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Sepoys had to bite cartridge open to release the powder. The grease used on cartridges was rumored to include tallow from beef, which was offensive to Hindus, and lard from pork, which was offensive to Muslims.
VMPWQ TIL - Walt Disney negotiated the rights to build a nuclear reactor in 1967, after hiring a German physicist, Heinz Haber, to lay the groundwork for research into nuclear energy, which would be used to power Disneyland.
4XOW6 TIL The East India Company controlled its own army, which by 1800 comprised some 200,000 soldiers, more than twice the membership of the British Army at that time. The army was used to carry out officially sanctioned looting within Indian States, along with forced over-taxation.
8apBL TIL Project Grizzly is a documentary about a Canadian man who, inspired by Robocop and a bear encounter, determined to make bear-proof body armor. In it he's beaten with 2X4s, thrown off a cliff, and slammed into by a truck at 50km/hr. It's one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite documentaries.
nebYP TIL as Alex Trebek was not able to retire on his own terms, one of the final phone calls he made was to Ken Jennings regarding taking over the hosting duties of "Jeopardy!". Trebek passed away the same weekend as this call, having hosted his final shows less than two weeks prior to his death.