› added 12 years ago

121

TIL that 4% of the sand on Normandy is shrapnel from D-Day.

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Lk90Q TIL the quote beginning "Do not pray for an easy life..." did not originate from Bruce Lee or Kennedy, rather it was from the sermons of a pastor named Phillips Brooks.
jNadX TIL that the song ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ mentioning “scary ghost stories” is from the pre-Christianity pagan belief that the winter solstice, being the longest night, was when the dead could most easily return.
4J7N TIL Cambyses II of Persia used cats to fight a battle. Against the Egyptians in the battle of Pelusium in 525 BC he ordered his men to paint cats on their shields and brought 100’s of cats to his front lines. The Egyptian archers refused to fire on the cats as injuring one was punishable by death.
aldb TIL Kal Penn (Kumar from Harold & Kumar) who currently plays the White House Press Secretary on Designated Survivor was the actual Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement.
5VPOr TIL that the year BC 1 was followed by the year AD 1. In both Gregorian and Julian calendar there is no year zero.