› added 5 months ago

16

TIL that in WW1, the British Army would allow groups of friends to volunteer together and let them serve in the same units in return. As a result, casualties to these "Pals batallions" would wreak havoc to entire communities in Britain.

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JZok TIL female pigs were used to hunt truffles as they are attracted to their smell, which resembles that of a male pig’s sex hormones. The use of pigs to hunt truffle was banned in Italy in 1985 as they tend to damage the truffles while hunting.
Ng06 TIL That Alexandre Dumas was black, and suffered at the hands of racism for most of his life, yet still was celebrated as France’s most widely read writer having written ‘The Three Musketeers’ and 'The Count of Monte Cristo’.
AA0o TIL there are only 2 escalators in the entire state of Wyoming.
d8DoZ TIL that in 1871 Clement Vallandigham, a lawyer and Ohio politician defending a man accused of murder, accidentally shot himself while demonstrating how the victim might have accidentally shot himself. His client was cleared.
NXraM TIL Elytra, AKA the hard casing of beetle wings, were used in Mughal India and then later on in Victorian England to adorn clothing, like an early form of sequins.