› added 7 years ago

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TIL: A hijacked Ethiopian Airlines plane was headed to Switzerland, but had to be intercepted by French/Italian fighter jets because the Swiss Air force doesn't work on nights and weekends.

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4d15 TIL that after the Kargil War (1999) between India and Pakistan, the Indian Army recommended that a Pakistani soldier be honoured for bravery, and Pakistan, accepting the recommendation, posthumously awarded him their highest military honour.
NDP1 TIL during the production of Star Wars, Peter Cushing found Grand Moff Tarkin’s boots, furnished by the wardrobe department, to be very uncomfortable. George Lucas agreed to limit shots where Cushing’s feet would be visible, allowing him to wear his own slippers.
bvlN TIL that Ronnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd would say to his friends and family that we would never live to be thirty. He was 29 when he was killed in a plane crash while on tour.
4X7D6 TIL two German brothers Adolf and Rudolf founded two of the biggest rival shoe companies Adidas and Puma after a family feud drove them apart. This conflict divided their home town to the point that employees of the two companies strictly avoided each other and stuck to separate bars and bakeries.
Zpkw4 TIL after the 1904 PS General Slocum fire that resulted in 957 deaths, "It was discovered that Nonpareil Cork Works, supplier of cork materials to manufacturers of life preservers, placed 8 oz (230 g) iron bars inside the cork materials to meet minimum content requirements."