› added 3 years ago

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TIL that 50 yrs ago today, the US conducted its largest underground nuclear test. A W71 warhead was detonated in a 7-ft-wide, 5,873-ft-deep shaft beneath Amchitka Island, Alaska. The yield was about 5 Megatons. The explosion raised the ground 25 ft, later collapsing into a 1-mile-wide, 60-ft crater.

Read more nuclearprinceton.princeton.edu

via reddit.com

OGgXe TIL: The Swingjugend was a German counter culture group of teenagers who admired the American way of life and thought the Hitler's Youth was uncool compared to the swing scene. They called their opposition the "Homo Youth" and too chaste (virgins). Their leaders were sent to the camps.
XEA4k TIL that the Ancient Greeks invented the spiked dog collar to protect their canine buddies from wolf attacks
wBNE TIL that the “we ain’t found shit!” trooper from Spaceballs is Tim Russ, who also played Tuvok in Star Trek Voyager
y6NM TIL in 2008 Russian hackers managed to infiltrate a computer network that wasn’t even connected to the internet. Bugged USB drives were planted in a kiosk outside NATO headquarters in the hope that a NATO employee would happen to buy one and use it on their classified network, which they did.
b9kO7 TIL that Colonel Sanders', the founder of KFC, title of Colonel wasn't earned in recognition of a distinguished military career, rather he was a Kentucky Colonel, which is the highest title of honour commissioned by the Governor of Kentucky.