› added 10 years ago

78

TIL in 1940, 2 Australian air force planes collided and locked together midair during a training exercise yet pilot L. Fuller landed the entangled planes after traveling 5 miles, after all other crews ejected. Fuller was commemorated & promoted, but died in 1944 when his bicycle collided with a bus.

9Yv0M TIL The Cadaver Synod was the posthumous trial of Pope Formosus. His corpse was dug up and found guilty, and his papacy voided. His corpse was then thrown in the River Tiber, but became a source of miracles. His trial was then overturned and he was reburied, but a later pope upheld the conviction.
VyEG TIL In 1720, stock speculation caused the value of shares for the South Sea Company to jump from£128 in January to £1000 in August. When the bubble burst, it financially ruined their investors. One investor, Sir Isaac Newton lost £20,000, equivalent to about £268 million in present day value.
YpnaB TIL I learned about the Pentagon's "Cafe Ground Zero." A hot dog stand in the middle of the pentagon that the Soviets believed housed the most top secret meeting room because satellite images showed U.S. military officers entering and exiting the hot dog stand at the same time every day.
WpQL TIL the largest centipede which ever existed was tall enough to rear up and look a human in the eyes.
VMRe0 TIL bed bugs have dagger penises, and a Swedish researcher decided to use pheromones to leverage their anatomical “feature” to kill one another by means of “uncontrolled shagging”.