Unsinkable Sam (nickname of a German ship's cat) who served on 3 warships, one German, two British, all sank in action. The cat survived each sinking, floating away on wooden planks to rescue.
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Modern humans first appeared about 200,000 years ago, but record keeping didn't begin until about 6,000 years ago. That means about 97% of human history is lost.
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Scientists are excavating the ruins of a major civilization which pre-dates both the pyramids and Stonehenge by over 7,000 years. In 15 years, they have uncovered only about 5% of the site.
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In 1537, England's King Henry VII officially declared February 14th the holiday of St. Valentine's Day.
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The ancient Egyptians thought the function of the brain was to produce snot.
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Alligator snapping turtles can live for over 150 years. Scientists know this because some of the turtles had musket balls in their stomachs.
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The word 'mile' is derived from the Latin word for 1,000 - the number of paces it took the average Roman!
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