› added 11 years ago

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TIL in 2002 the US military conducted an elaborate $250mil war game against a retired USMC Lt Gen who employed unconventional tactics like motorcycle messengers and suicide bombers, inflicting “the worst naval disaster since Pearl Harbor” and resulted in the exercise being restarted with a handicap.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

D1gkY TIL that in 1981 the Pentagon spent $6 million trying to determine whether or not burning a photograph of a Soviet missile would destroy the actual missile
w977 TIL ticks are not insects but arachnids with 8 legs and are evolutionary related to mites.
e0MGJ TIL of The Eleusinian Mysteries: Secret religious ancient Greek rites held annually for some two millennia (starting in 1600 B.C.) at the temple of Demeter. To this day, the controversy puzzles historians; all details were marked by a sworn oath of secrecy by the initiated and vanished through time.
l8A7 TIL that 14-year-old Kurt Cobain announced to a schoolmate that he’d be a superstar musician, get rich and famous, kill himself and go out in a blaze of glory like Jimi Hendrix
mVRy TIL dogs tend to enjoy being hugged less than humans and other primates do, since canines interpret putting a limb over another animal as a sign of dominance.