› added 3 years ago

85

TIL in 1961 the entire U.S. figure skating team died in an airplane crash - causing a mandate still in effect that no team travelling to international competition would be allowed to fly together ever again

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7rD8M TIL the former US president has 7 species named after him in honor, and the current one has 1 primarily because of resemblance
Yp6Zd TIL The atomic-bomb-carrying 509th Composite Group named many of their planes after their special mission: Strange Cargo, Up An' Atom, Necessary Evil, Some Punkins. They also had special tail markings but it was replaced for operational security reasons. Their famous nose art was mostly added after.
RBMl TIL: A Japanese scientist discovered the jet stream in the 1920s, but it was ignored as he published his findings in esperanto
ZaNp TIL Frankenstein was written due to a volcanic eruption. Because of all the ash in the sky, Mary Shelley and her friends would stay indoors and have contests of who could write the scariest stories. Frankenstein was the scariest.
rl9e TIL Henry Ford reduced the workday to 8 hours so he could add a third shift.