› added 9 years ago

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TIL 20 to 25 percent of US Army officers killed during the Vietnam War were fragged by soldiers under their command. Soldiers posted bounties in underground GI newspapers and pooled money to pay out rewards for the murder of targeted officers.

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xV7LB TIL that in 1978, an inspection of a damaged U.S. Navy ship revealed the remnants of claws from the tentacles of a giant squid. The claws were much larger than any that had been seen by scientists, indicating that the squid was of a size substantially greater than any that had been documented.
OoOae TIL that a USSR physicist published his equations for solving reflected electromagnetic waves from surfaces, as the Soviet authorities considered them insignificant for military purposes. His work was found by Lockheed in the 1970s, leading to a breakthrough in developing their stealth plane F-117.
KYLGG TIL Michael Kearney (who spoke his first word at four-months-old) completed his Bachelor's degree in anthropology in two years to become the youngest ever university graduate at the age of 10.
5YQmn TIL that dark-skinned people living in cold countries are 6 times more at risk of developing vitamin D deficiency.
rLVw TIL that the “Red Zone” in France, where some of the most intense combat from WW1 took place, is utterly uninhabitable. Countless undetonated chemical weapons and explosives riddle the earth which, along with the tons of human remains, have rendered the soil and water highly toxic.