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TIL that lodestones (natural magnetic stones) are very probably made when a lightning strikes ferrite stones ; a scientist proved it by sending a small rocket containing this type of stone into a storm cloud and the stone returned magnetic

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4656 TIL an 18 year old marine singlehandedly persuaded 1,500 soldiers at the battle of Saipan to surrender. He was only able to do this because his japanese foster parents had taken him in off the streets when he was 12 and taught him their language.
4k8vR TIL about Prince Rupert's Drops, glass formed like a tadpole in which the bulb portion is Essentially Unbreakable, until the tip of the tail is snapped, in which case the form explodes.
R51ba TIL Arunachalam aschool dropout from a poor family in India has revolutionised menstrual health for rural women in developing countries by inventing a simple machine they can use to make cheap sanitary pads. He nearly lost his family, his money and his place in society.
69N5l TIL that the first time the U.S. flag was raised in victory on foreign soil was during the First Barbary War, when a group of Marines and mercenaries captured the Tripolitan city of Derna. The action is memorialized in a line of the Marines' Hymn: "the shores of Tripoli".
PYgGg TIL in Avatar: The Last Airbender, the bending styles for each element were influenced by a different Chinese martial art. For example, earthbenders use movements inspired by Hung Gar––chosen for its firmly rooted stances and powerful strikes as a representation of the solidity of earth.