› added 11 years ago

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TIL The Fresh Prince probably wouldn’t have been made if the IRS didn’t fine Will Smith $2.8M

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GYpg7 TIL in 1962, jousting was declared as the official state sport of Maryland.
rRAax TIL that, in 1922, Nikola Tesla imagined that his favorite pigeon told him that she was dying. When she actually did shortly after, he said that "something went out of his life and he knew his life's work was finished".
0dZ5y TIL Frank Sinatra was convinced that Johnny Fontane, a singer with mob associations, in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather was based on his life leading Sinatra to shout abuse and threaten physical violence when he met Puzo at a restaurant.
wLx97 TIL that the "sweet spot" altitude for airplanes is between 35000 and 42000 feet - At higher altitude the air is too sparse for the engines while lower altitude means higher resistance
6lB8 TIL during Australia’s first ever plane hijacking in 1960, the copilot Tom Bennett punched the lone, armed hijacker in the face and then ripped the wires from the bomb he was holding, disarming it. He and the pilot then subdued and handcuffed the man, before landing all 43 passengers unharmed.