› added 9 years ago

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TIL North Korean exists because Taiwan exists: China was prevented by the US 7th Fleet from invading Taiwan in June 1950, so Mao Zedong announced China would enter the Korean war with the invasion force originally intended for Taiwan, and by October this force saved North Korea from imminent defeat

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Kd59 TIL Neil Young said “Piracy is the new radio. That’s how music gets around”
wLx97 TIL that the "sweet spot" altitude for airplanes is between 35000 and 42000 feet - At higher altitude the air is too sparse for the engines while lower altitude means higher resistance
8aPWK TIL Dionysius the Elder, Greek ruler of ancient Syracuse ran up massive debts; so Dionysius ordered all citizens (under penalty of death) to turn in all their money (drachmas) Once all the drachmas were collected he simply re-stamped each one drachma coin as two drachmas and paid his debt
rN4lM TIL of the world's longest humanitarian airlift, which provided supplies during the Siege of Sarajevo between 3 July 1992 and 9 January 1996
yQQYV Exactly today (Dec. 26th, 2016) I haven’t had a single drop of alcohol or coffee in 27 months. If you're reading this later, you can do the math yourself. A couple of my friends on Facebook & Twitter asked me to write about my experience, so here it is, in a nutshell.