› added 11 months ago

124

TIL that during the falklands war in 1982 the british mistakenly killed three whales believing them to be enemy submarines.

Read more news.com.au

via reddit.com

XE4g6 TIL in 1982, the CIA successfully tricked the Soviet Union into stealing sabotaged software that oversaw pump valves in gas lines. The CIA used it to close off a massive Soviet gas line, leading to a massive pressure build up and “the most monumental non-nuclear explosion ever seen from space.”
yEpV TIL: In the late 1960s, all plants from a specific species of bamboo sprouted flowers at the same time, despite being separated by thousands of miles. Shortly after, all the plants died. The next mass flowering is predicted to come in 2090, when the bamboo completes its 120-year cycle.
kOAAd TIL The siren squelch at the beginning of the Emergency Broadcast System is actually a digital code that specifies who issued the alert, the type of threat, where it is affecting, and how long it is in place.
kJQaW TIL that Gemma Hayter (1982–2010) , a disabled woman from Warwickshire, was tortured and murdered in 2010 by people she believed were her friends. Her death was later identified as a case of "mate crime," where vulnerable individuals are exploited by those they trust.
XRgP TIL of the Phantom Time Hypothesis, which claims that the events of c. 600-900 AD actually happened concurrently, not over the course of 300 years, meaning that the correct current year in the Anno Domini dating system would actually be closer to 1716.