› added 3 years ago

69

TIL that in 1995 a Norwegian scientific rocket-launch caused Russia to panic believing it was a US nuclear attack with the 'nuclear briefcase' being delivered to Boris Yeltsin

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0W85 TIL the Polish 303 Squadron claimed the highest number of kills (126) of all fighter squadrons engaged in the Battle of Britain. Constituting 5% of the pilots active during the Battle of Britain, they were responsible for 12% of total victories
GAJNE TIL Nicole Sullivan was originally cast as Leela on the show Futurama
ZpVaD TIL that Canadian sci-fi author Peter Watts made his book Blindsight available under a Creative Commons license which tripled its sales
5Y4rn TIL that the world's brightest cities are in northern latitudes, where the sun shines less, or in arid countries, where hot daytime sun inspires more evening activity. The current top 10: St. Petersburg, Mecca, Chelyabinsk, Kuwait City, Calgary, Edmonton, Kazan, Medina, Helsinki, Tangier
mxylE TIL The Beatles song Blackbird (solo Paul McCartney) has a tapping that keeps time. The tapping was thought to be a metronome but was in fact Paul's foot keeping time as he played guitar and sang the lyrics.