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TIL that a "loose cannon" is an apt name for something out of control: when an 8000 pound cannon came loose from a mooring on a ship, it could wreak terror on the crew as it wiped out anything or person in its path and destroyed the ship's walls

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mx1dE If it’s a particularly contagious virus, it would spread across the planet in a year. “If it starts in New York, it’s going to be in London certainly within a week,” says Ira Longini, a biostatistician at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle who uses computer models to analyze how viruses globe-trot. “And from there, it will quickly travel to the rest of North America and Europe.” For Longini’s computer forecasts to become reality, though, certain conditions would need to be met.
OoeXY TIL of Michael Durant, who was taken prisoner in Mogadishu in 1993. He was tortured for 11 days until he heard a helicopter playing “Hell’s Bells” by AC/DC. His superiors knew it was his favorite song, so they had rigged a helicopter with a loudspeaker and flown over the city looking for him.
DNNr TIL the first drink referred to as a “cocktail” was what is now known as an Old Fashioned. It was the original cocktail.
VMKvZ TIL Mark Hamill appeared on a progressive death metal album.
7rKO7 TIL that in 1946, the University of Tennessee forfeited a basketball game against Duquesne because they had one black player in Chuck Cooper on the team. Tennessee's coach asked Duquesne's coach to not play Cooper "unless he had to", but Duquesne refused. Duquesne won 2-0 due to Tennessee's forfeit.