› added 13 years ago

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TIL that in 1989-1990 the Belgian Air Force successfully got two missile locks on a UFO, only to be outmaneuvered. The object accelerated from 240 km/h (150 mph) to 1100 km/h (683 mph) almost instantly, descending 900 m (half a mile) in less than 2 seconds, something that would kill a human pilot.

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9Y0AG TIL cartoonist Otto Eppers was charged with attempted suicide after surviving a jump off of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1910. A judge dismissed the charge commenting “Well, he seems very much alive, doesn't he?”
AKo4 TIL one reason menus list a very expensive wine or specialty food item is to make everything else on the menu seem more reasonable, causing diners to spend more than they normally would.
epjaL TIL a 1978 study had students approach strangers & ask to have sex. 75% of men said yes; zero women did. But a 2015 study made sure its participants believed they could accept offers of sex without fear of what might happen to them; it found when society isn’t judging, women's sex drive rivals men's
4kLNb TIL that the last remnants of feudalism ended in 2006 when the island of Sark in the English Channel voted for democracy. Beforehand they were the last feudal fiefdom in Europe and were ruled by a Seigneur and the descendants of 40 farming families who helped colonise the island.
W7bB9 TIL that the first reference to Santa’s sleigh being pulled by a reindeer appeared in 1821 in a poem called “Old Santeclaus with Much Delight.” “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” published two years later, said he had eight reindeer named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder, and Blixem.