› added 7 years ago

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TIL the helicopter that crashed during the Bin Laden raid did so because in the training exercises, they used a chain fence, rather than a solid wall like what surrounded the real compound. The solid wall meant heat got trapped and rose up, causing the helicopter to have different flight properties.

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E1MvW TIL many buildings in the Roman Forum were reasonably intact until the Renaissance. Several temples and arches were destroyed to provide building materials for St. Peter's Basilica and other projects.
78VBr TIL L'Anse aux Meadows is the oldest known European settlement in North America. Discovered in 1960 in present-day Newfoundland, its origin was confirmed to be Viking from the 11th century based on artifacts and evidence consistent with other known Norse examples in Greenland and Iceland
9w7NQ TIL the US suicide rate has risen steadily over the past 18 years and in 2022 (14.3 per 100,000 people) it reached its highest point since 1941 (15 per 100,000).
6W88 TIL that an American former prisoner of war spotted a brutal Japanese official from the POW camp shopping at Sears in Los Angeles in 1946. The official, a US citizen, was subsequently the last person convicted of treason in the US to date.
R5RZQ TIL A fireproof, earthquake-proof and bulletproof home can be built with 14,000 plastic bottles and mud. They are being built in Nigeria, Algeria, Honduras, Brazil and Argentina.