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TIL William "Billy" Mitchell was an US army general who was an outspoken proponent of air power and its ability to defeat battleships. Due to his unrelenting criticism of high command's refusal to adapt, he was demoted and court martialed. Today he is regarded as the father of the US Air Force.

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Brajb TIL that people sentenced to death by beheading were advised to give the headsman a gold coin to ensure he did not botch the beheading and cause a painful death by multiple strokes
mxZgp TIL During the 2015 active shooter at the Navy facility in Chattanooga, TN, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, one of four slain Marines, directed his junior troops to clear a nearby neighborhood park that was packed with children. They rounded up all of the children and hunkered down in a building nearby.
YjQv TIL Iowa and Montana will revoke your driver’s license if you can’t pay back student loans
e0LLD TIL the unit of speed the knot, used extensively throughout the world in aviation, weather, and nautical contexts, comes from literal knots of the "common log" device. This 17th century device was a coil of rope with uniformly spaced knots, attached to a piece of wood shaped like a slice of pie.
8adZG TIL that a judge once threw out a British Airways lawsuit against Ryanair for their "Expensive BAstards!" ad campaign by ruling "the complaint amounts to this: Ryanair exaggerated in suggesting BA is five times more expensive, because BA is only three times more expensive."