› added 1 year ago

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TIL: Engineers were given 10 weeks to develop the GBU-28 bunker buster to penetrate Saddam's troops which were buried 30-50 feet deep. In testing the weapon managed to bury itself over 100 feet deep, so deep that the expense in digging it up could not be justified and was deployed immediately after.

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xVYww TIL 'Carmilla' by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu is thought to be the earliest work of vampire fiction written originally in 1871 and pre-dates the more well-known 'Dracula' by 26 years
OGP56 TIL that Tyler Perry’s Madea character is actually inspired by a character in Greek mythology.
d8n5E TIL: Richard Pryor was raised in the actual brothel where his mother worked, which was owned by his own no-nonsense grandmother, Marie Carter.
neVdW TIL Ray Bradbury took 9 days to write his novella, The Firemen, in the basement of a UCLA library on a typewriter rented for 10¢/30 minutes. After being urged by his publisher, he returned to the basement, got to work, and expanded his novella into Fahrenheit 451, which also took 9 days to write
D1GXv TIL a viking grave of a woman warrior was dug up, and contrast to the skeletal evidence, it was assumed to be male due to the weapons in the grave. Even after DNA testing proved she was female, claims were then tried to be made that the bones got mixed up.