› added 6 years ago

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TIL: A Russian man saved the world by ignoring the commands of a missile detection system. His gut instincts were correct. it was a false alarm. There were no nukes coming from the United States. It was some clouds that fooled the sensors.

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JYgLj TIL William Walker worked under water below Winchester Cathedral for six hours a day for six years to restore the building's foundation. He worked in total darkness, using his bare hands to feel his way through the cloudy, muddy water.
rRbko TIL In 1970 Eckhard and Christel Wehage frustrated with life in East Germany attempted to hijack a plane shortly after take-off to take them to West Germany. When they realised their escape plan had failed, they returned to their seats and shot themselves.
R5Doa TIL that an unplugged microwave carries enough residual current to kill you, even if it's been unplugged for months. So never try to repair a broken microwave unless you know how to discharge the capacitor.
rNN14 TIL Harald Hirschsprung (describer of Hirschsprung's disease) helped establish a children's hospital named after Queen Louisa of Denmark in 1879. She wanted the walls decorated with Bible verses, but Hirschsprung insisted on pictures of animals. After this, the Queen declined to enter the hospital
GARo1 TIL Vladimir Pravik was one of the first firefighters to reach the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26th, 1986. The radiation was so strong that it changed his eye color from brown to blue. He died 15 days later.