› added 4 years ago

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TIL the movie Solider (starring Kurt Russell) takes place in the same fictional universe as Blade Runner

kJkr7 TIL in the early 1970s Boeing proposed an oil carrier aircraft with a 500 ft (150 m) wingspan, powered by 12 engines from the 747 design. A fleet of aircraft would work around the clock to fly crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to the Pacific coast. The Alaska Pipeline was built instead.
69NW8 TIL In 1987 Paul Tudor Jones believed the stock market to be overvalued so he took an very risky short position. On Oct 19, 1987 the market crashed hard in what's now known as Black Monday. While many were wiped out, Jones walked away with $100M. His trade became legendary on Wall Street.
Yp8a7 TIL that leap days were actually put into use since 46 BC by Julius Caesar after him personally consulting Greek astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria for the fact that one year was slightly longer than 365 days and if they continued with the existing calendar, July would eventually fall on winter.
b9KZZ TIL about Makuragaeshi which are Japanese spirits that visit people at night to flip their pillows over. They're mentioned in stories from the Edo period to modern times. In ancient Japan, they believed the soul left the body during dreams and that it couldn't return if the pillow was flipped.
BgyJL TIL about Wawpawwawqua ('White Loon'), a Miami war leader who fought against the United States, but was later excused from a Miami removal because he paid property tax. He was said to be 107 years old at the time of his death, in 1876.