› added 11 years ago

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TIL SR-71 Blackbird pilots where tasked to fly over foreign ceremonies to lay down a sonic boom when heads of state were greeting each other. Just to remind them that what they were doing was against US policy.

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ew0E TIL That in Russia, in times of economic desparity or high inflation, teachers can be payed in Vodka.
oRPV8 TIL that in 1982, a man named Larry Walters attached 45 helium balloons to a lawn chair and flew to 16,000 feet, only intending to fly 10 meters. He landed safely on a power line that broke, causing a 20-minute electricity blackout, and was arrested by the FAA for violating airspace.
D1APr TIL about Apophis (Egyptian god of death and darkness), an asteroid that will pass earth closer than our own satellites orbit on Friday 13th, 2029. It will touch our atmosphere, and we will be able to see it wiz overhead. There is a debated chance of it impacting Earth when it returns in 2036.
R5LZ8 TIL The First Lady of the United States, Lou Henry Hoover, became the first woman to receive a degree in geology from Stanford University.
R58K9 TIL Oreos are vegan. The “cream” filling is essentially vegetable oil and sugar.