› added 6 years ago

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TIL that the US military developed a set of playing cards with the names and faces of the most wanted members of Saddam Hussein's government on them so the troops would learn to recognize them while playing cards

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xVgv5 TIL As president, Herbert Hoover became the first chief executive to harness federal power to combat a crippling global recession. Hoover reformed America’s prisons, improved worker safety, and fought for better health for children
j6NnM TIL Cillian Murphy Lived with Gypsies to Prepare for the Role of Thomas Shelby in Peaky Blinders
jNBBE TIL that in the War of the Triple Alliance, Paraguay lost over 90% of it's entire male population. Paraguayan women ended up outnumbering men with ratios of 4:1 or even 20:1 in some regions. As a result, the local catholic church authorized polygamy to rebuild the population
VMb60 TIL that nearly 70% of all Americans have less than $1000 in savings and 45% have no savings in all
pgyp TIL that rice fields are flooded primarily for weed control, not because it provides optimal growing conditions for the rice plants, as I had always presumed.