› added 6 years ago

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TIL that Australian scientists accidentally invented Wi-Fi while searching for black holes.

Read more nationalgeographic.com.au

via reddit.com

moWM TIL that congressional approval for the first Gulf War was effected by the testimony of a Kuwaiti nurse who claimed to have witnessed Iraqi soldiers pulling babies out of incubators and throwing them on the floor to die. This never happened. The nurse was not a nurse. She was coached by a PR firm.
VBJbk TIL a "bit" is equal to 12.5¢, and since the US has no coin worth a bit, "two-bit" (equal to one quarter) became a way of describing something cheap or unworthy, as in "two-bit hustler" or "two-bit operation."
E1ZRw TIL that the flag of Papua New Guinea was designed by a 15 year old school girl who won a nationwide competition to design the national flag
Wg14 TIL not a single black artist had a Billboard No.1 single in 2013 - the first time this has happened in 55 years.
16Z9W TIL about The Twilight Zone Accident in 1982 where a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter crashed at Indian Dunes in Valencia, California during the making of Twilight Zone: The Movie. The crash decapitated actor Vic Morrow and two children who were on the ground, and injured six helicopter passengers.