› added 8 years ago

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TIL that when the Greek ships reached the beach of Troy, no one would jump ashore, since there was a prophecy that the first Greek to jump on Trojan soil would die. Odysseus tossed his shield on the shore and jumped on his shield so the person who was tricked into following him would die instead

8Bd8 TIL engineers that worked on the Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” aircraft couldn’t come up with a proper fuel sealing system that could handle the thermal expansion of the airframe at extreme temperatures, so the aircraft would leak jet fuel on the runway.
Xw8P TIL After a miscarriage in 1726, a woman named Mary Toft began placing rabbits inside her vagina claiming that when they exited her she had given birth to a monster. 17 such “monsters” were “born”. The discovery of her fraud ruined the careers of several prominent surgeons who believed her. [NSFW]
6EbMY TIL a person who prioritizes calling "Shotgun" more than a normal person, to the degree that they'll compromise their own ethics to gain the front seat, is known pejoratively as a "Shotgun Gaper."
78DR7 TIL that in 1977, a former beauty queen kidnapped a mormon missionary for sex
9YAXX TIL that Samuel Colt, famous for producing the revolver,originally created underwater mines. They were highly effective, however John Quincy Adams scuttled the project as "not fair and honest warfare" and termed the Colt mine an "unchristian contraption." So Colt returned his attentions to guns.