› added 9 years ago

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TIL that Goodyear developed a small inflatable airplane called the “Inflatoplane” with funding from the United States Army in 1956. The project was scrapped because it could not find a “valid military use for an aircraft that could be brought down by a well-aimed bow and arrow.”

7yYZ TIL an American POW in Osaka, narrowly avoided an execution by uttering the words “He can kill me, but he will not kill my spirit, and my spirit will lodge inside him and haunt him for the rest of his life.”. The Japanese officer backed off.
p8kw8 TIL Edgar Allen Poe wrote "William Wilson", a story where doppelgangers share a name and similar traits. In the 1980s, there were 2 switch hitter, center fielders, that shared similar traits and backgrounds, playing in the MLB. Their names were William Wilson.
kO7YB TIL the Hawaiian island chain (the whole chain, not just the eight main Windward islands) if superimposed on the US mainland would stretch approximately from Florida to California. They stretch 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers).
rR4e TIL some fish and crab are “immortal”, e.i. they never die of old age, as enzymes in their cells repair can repair their DNA indefinitely.
bbBp TIL that in Finland, speeding ticket prices are calculated on the percentage of an individual’s income. This results in millionaires facing exorbitant fees. One such case occurred in 2002 when a Nokia executive was fined $103,000 for going 45mph in a 30mph zone on his motorbike.