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TIL: Prior to the D-Day landings, men were covertly sent ashore from submarines to collect samples of the sand to see whether it could support the weight of the tanks, trucks and other vehicles.

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Anpg TIL Gary Gygax had been asked if he invented roleplaying. He modestly responded “No, as long as kids have been playing cops and robbers or cowboys and indians, they’ve been playing roleplaying games.”
WkDn4 [TIL] there is no federal minimum drinking age law. It doesn't have that authority. An act signed by Reagan, however, supersedes states' rights by punishing any state who ignores this by reducing federal highway apportionment by 10% in an effort to reduce drunk driving.
KOXyB TIL: In Costa Rica, a sea turtle conservation organization is exposing sea turtle egg poachers by placing fake sea turtle eggs on the beach, with GPS trackers imbedded inside the eggs to reveal the location of whoever takes them.
JY84k TIL in the ancient epic Mahabharata (c.a 400 BCE), the King Yudisthira reaches paradise but is told his dog is not allowed in. Shocked that his dog could not be allowed in, the King choses to return to Earth or go to Hell. The guard then reveals it was only a test of his virtue, and allows both in.
Wk59Y TIL for Willis Carrier, the invention of modern air conditioning was incidental. He was actually part of team tasked with controlling the humidity inside a printing company. But he learned that by removing moisture from the air with his invention, it also, quite effectively cooled it.