› added 8 years ago

175

TIL since 1967 there has always been a plane in the air above the US which has the ability to retarget and launch nuclear missiles without the crew in the underground missile silos being involved.

Read more wikipedia.org

via ift.tt

v19mj TIL that 'nose art', or the practice of painting pin-ups or cartoons on the front of war planes, died out in the early 1970s when Air Force Chief of Staff John Ryan called for a moratorium on the practice. It's been quietly making a comeback in recent years, albeit now strictly controlled.
WrkB TIL During the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, education about the disease was limited for political reasons. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop ended up infuriating members of both parties after he ordered that every home in America be mailed a letter explaining what AIDS was and how to protect from it.
LQyn9 TIL Legendary Wild West gambler and gun man Doc Holliday was convinced he would be killed in a shootout with his boots on. Instead he lay dying of tuberculosis in a hospital, asked the nurse for a shot of whisky which she denied, looked down at his bootless feet, said "This is funny" and died.
oBND8 TIL President Gerald Ford started modeling for extra money after he graduated from Yale. In 1942, he was on the cover of Cosmo.
D1E6Y TIL - Battle of Machias was an early naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War a small town militia captured an armed sloop and two merchant ships. Two years later the British tried it again with 1,000 men but were beaten off.