› added 1 year ago

52

TIL To ensure the survival of a small group of U.S. servicemen stationed on Alaska's remote St. Matthew Island during World War II, the Coast Guard released 29 reindeer to the island. After the war the reindeer population exploded to more than 600 by 1963. By 1964 they were all gone.

Read more hakaimagazine.com

via reddit.com

b9rbj TIL: 1k-10k sheets of toilet paper were manufactured during the early 14th century, what is now Zhejiang province... Elsewhere, wealthy people wiped themselves with wool, lace or hemp, while less wealthy people used their hand when defecating into rivers.
kJrDg TIL that Shaquille O'Neal was offered and declined the role of John Coffey in The Green Mile.
woJk1 TIL that bones can bleed and bruise just like skin; I banged my toe against a brick wall and did some deep research after.
wLxxY TIL Theodore Roosevelt was the first American to earn a brown belt in judo.
ndvo TIL of the’ Night Witches’, a Russian all female bomber squadron in WW2. The 80-woman group flew 23,000 sorties and received 23 ‘Hero of the Soviet Union’ honors. They earned the name from their technique of shutting the engine off and gliding over their targets to drop bombs silently.