› added 6 years ago

95

TIL an Aboriginal man planted a flag on the cliffs of Dover in 1988 and claimed England for the Aborigines

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Z81Qa TIL Following the first successful powered flight in 1903, the Wright Brothers took their invention to a cautious War Department, who were skeptical due to past false claims. Incensed that their good word was not accepted, and worried about weak patent laws, the Wrights hid their invention away.
wL7LW TIL that pilots taking off from aircraft carriers must keep their hands off the stick until they are fully launched off the end of the ship and in the air. This is to prevent them from intentionally diving the plane into the water due to a form of disorientation called "somatogravic illusion".
v1npB TIL that the island of Borneo is the only island to be split between three countries: Brunei (entirely on the island), Malaysia (partially on the Asian mainland, partially on Borneo), and Indonesia (an archipelago)
d816K TIL Why there's an extra shoelace hole in your shoes!
ZGav TIL a girl sacrificed her life in the 2011 Tohono tsunami to warn people of the oncoming tsunami and saved 10,000 peoples’ lives