› added 10 years ago

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TIL that the United States Navy shot down an Iranian Airbus A300 after it was incorrectly identified as an attacking F-14 Tomcat fighter. The entire 290 civilian passengers and crew onboard were killed.

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pYAKN TIL author Maya Angelou was a friend of Martin Luther King Jr. King was assassinated on her 40th birthday. For many years after she didn't celebrate her birthday only marking the occasion by reaching out to King's widow.
lyg1 TIL to help airline passengers deal with travel anxiety, San Francisco International Airport has hired the nation’s first airport therapy pig. LiLou wears costumes and performs tricks to help travelers calm down before boarding their flights.
DV9r TIL That at least six air traffic controllers who dealt with two of the hijacked airliners on Sept. 11, made a tape recording that same day describing the events, but the tape was destroyed by a supervisor without anyone making a transcript or even listening to it.
4XRGJ TIL that interracial marriage was technically illegal in Alabama until 2000 (although unenforceable due to Loving v Virginia). In the 2000 referendum, only 59% of people voted in favour of removing these anti-miscegenation clauses from the state constitution
OGA5X TIL that Michael Jackson's father was quite critical of his appearance when he was a child, calling him "fat nose." This led to Michael having four rhinoplasties and spending the rest of his life worrying about how his body and face looked.