› added 13 years ago

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TIL if too many pistachios are shipped in a single container, they will self-heat and experience spontaneous combustion.

nKL7 TIL Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the anti-Taliban forces, warned of an imminent, large-scale attack against the USA in April 2001. He was assassinated on September 9, 2001. John O'Neill, referring to the assassination, said “We’re due for something big”. He died one day later on September 11, 2001.
Bg0dx TIL in 1969, a drunk Richard Nixon ordered a nuclear strike on North Korea for shooting down a spy plane. Henry Kissinger, his National Security Advisor, got on the phone to the Joint Chiefs and was able to convince them to stand down on that order until Nixon woke up sober the next morning
kOdjm TIL about Peter Oakley, known as Geriatric1927 on youtube, he was the most subscribed youtube account in 2006, in his channel he talked about his life experiences, such as growing up in the UK during WW2 and experiencing the British inter-war school system, he passed away in 2014 at 86 years old
7rk7b TIL Alexander Graham Bell was a eugenicist and despite being married to a deaf woman, tried to prevent the use of ASL, in favor of Oralism, and tried to prevent the deaf from marrying each other.
oB5K TIL In 2001, a surgeon was in a situation, due to some admitted level of incompetence, that required him to improvise and place a portion of surgical grade stainless steel screwdriver into a patient’s spine. He and his hospital were later sued for $5.6 million. He tells his side of the story here.