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TIL In 1915, Kulbir Thapa was the first Nepalese Gurkha to receive the Victoria Cross. Thapa carried two wounded Gurkhas through No-Man’s-Land despite being wounded himself. When he went back a third time, German soldiers stopped firing and began clapping, allowing him to walk back to his own line.

jNv5E TIL Mason bees can pollinate anywhere from 20-100k blossoms per day while honeybees pollinate only 50-1000 blossoms per day, making the native North American mason bee a far more efficient pollinator than the European honey bee.
Wky1X TIL of Mamie Johnson, who was a professional Negro League baseball player, with a 33–8 win-loss record and a batting average of .262. She was known as "Peanut" during her career due to her height - 5 feet, 3 inches. After retiring, she went to nursing school and became a nurse for 30 years.
jgkN TIL Notorious English pirate captain Benjamin Hornigold (1680–1719) once attacked a ship off the coast of Honduras just to replace his crew’s hats (they had drunkenly lost them the night before)
woLxE TIL that during the Falklands War, the British Royal Navy killed 3 whales with torpedoes and depth charges after mistaking them for Argentinian submarines
6E4rW TIL in Japan, a home loses value from Day 1 — losing half its value in 10 years and becoming almost entirely worthless in 25. When a property is sold, the existing house is almost always razed and rebuilt. Even the most important shrines in Japan face regular rebuilding.