› added 4 years ago

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TIL: Former USAF nuclear missile launch officer Captain Robert Salas and a group of five former USAF officers and airmen gave a press release stating they witnessed UFOs deactivate nuclear missiles and even land in a nuclear weapons storage area

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via reddit.com

R5Vaj TIL that with regard to a 24 hour day, divided into two periods, a.m. comes from the Latin ante meridiem, translating to "before midday", and p.m. from the Latin post meridiem, which translates to "after midday."
wLLLM TIL James Watson (co-discoverer of the structure of DNA), had to auction off his Nobel Prize Medal due to poverty. A Russian billionaire bought it for $4.1M and returned it stating, “a situation in which an outstanding scientist has to sell a medal recognising his achievements is unacceptable.”
j6XjX TIL that telegraph operators fell in love, got married, and even had sexual encounters over the telegraph, much in the same way people do today through messaging and social networks
6Ean7 TIL the premise for The Smashing Pumpkins music video "Today" was inspired by a memory from Billy Corgan when the local ice cream truck driver quit his job, and he ended up giving away all of the ice cream in the truck to all the neighborhood kids.
lo9l7 TIL about the WW2 battle between the destroyer USS Borie and U-405, in which the two ships collided and became locked together. The crews had to resort to fighting at close range, with small arms and anything they could get their hands on. One German sailor was even killed by a thrown sheath knife.