› added 6 months ago

17

TIL that the last words of Apache leader and prisoner of war Geronimo were: "I should have never surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive."

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8Bd8 TIL engineers that worked on the Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird” aircraft couldn’t come up with a proper fuel sealing system that could handle the thermal expansion of the airframe at extreme temperatures, so the aircraft would leak jet fuel on the runway.
An64 TIL that even under a worst-case scenario, no Rubik’s Cube is farther than 20 moves from being solved.
WkONL TIL the African nation of Zambia aspired to beat US and Russia in the Space Race. Their "Afronaut" prep. program included using a tire swing to simulate weightlessness along with downhill barrel rolls for the g-force. They also had plans to Christianize the Martian population, among other things.
J1YYl TIL about Captain Tim Lancaster, a pilot who was SUCKED OUT THE FRONT OF THE PLANE, then grabbed and held by an air steward until the plane landed.
XEnvR TIL of Radiotrophic Fungus, originally found in Chernobyl, that utilize Melanin to turn Gamma radiation into Chemical Energy. Similar to how plants use Chlorophyll to turn sunlight into Energy.