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TIL when he became President Eisenhower allowed his son to serve in the Korean war only on one condition: that he promise never be captured alive

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DQX0J TIL in Wisconsin, researchers found that the presence of wolves reduced vehicle collisions with deer by about a quarter, creating an economic benefit that was 63 times greater than the cost of wolves killing livestock.
Z84ZY TIL of the 100th Infantry Battalion, famously made up of primarily Hawaiians of Japanese descent that went on to serve with distinction during WWII in the European Theater, still exists to this day as a reserve unit for troops from American territories in the Pacific.
VMVKm TIL German biologist Stefan Lanka, who believed that measles was a "psychosomatic illness", announced that he would pay 100,000 Euros to anyone who could prove that measles was a virus. German doctor David Barden proved him wrong and Lanka was ordered by the court to pay the money as promised.
x6pW0 TIL that the Ada programming language was designed in 1977 to replace 450 programming languages used by the US Dept. of Defense at the time
j6eVa TIL there almost were programmable, steam-driven computers in the 1840s