› added 4 years ago

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TIL of the death of Don Henry and Keven Ives, who were hit by a train as they lay on the tracks. The deaths were initially ruled an accident as a result of the boys sleeping on the tracks due to marijuana intoxication. The cause of death was changed to "definite homicide" after a second autopsy.

m10vE TIL that Jack Woolams, the test pilot for the first American jet fighter, wore a gorilla mask and a bowler hat while flying so that any sightings of the jet by other pilots wouldn't be believed by people on the ground.
6EYGJ TIL Czar Nicholas II approved a tunnel across the Bering Strait in 1905 (with a cost estimated at $65 million and $300 million including all the railroads) although the plan was abandoned with the advent of WWI and the Russian Revolution.
9wJj6 TIL that the US didn't have a unified intelligence agency until 1941, when Royal Navy Admiral John Godfrey, director of Naval Intelligence, met with President Roosevelt and urged its creation. Roosevelt agreed. Godfrey's assistant at the meeting was Lt. Cdr. Ian Fleming, who later wrote James Bond
Y7Rjr TIL that some common oral contraceptives (birth-control pills) can be rendered ineffective if stored for an extended period of time above 30 degC (86 degF) - such as inside a hot car. They can also be degraded by storage in a cold place such as a home refrigerator or freezer.
V4G4 TIL there is an unaired Mythbusters episode. Groups of mice were used to test if “the box is more nutritious than the cereal”. The mice in one of the groups were eating “pallets of cardboard”. One day they checked and there were no longer 3 mice in that group, but 1 really fat mouse.