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TIL that original targets of the September 11 attacks were nuclear power plants, but the targets were later altered by al-Qaeda, as it was feared that such an attack “might get out of hand”

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OoMvX TIL Zebras are black with white stripes. It was previously believed that zebras were white animals with black stripes, since some zebras have white underbellies. Embryological evidence, however, shows that the animal's background color is black and the white stripes and bellies are additions.
78n1L TIL about stellar nucleosynthesis, the process by which chemical elements are created by nuclear fusion reactions within stars. The theory can be used to accurately estimate the abundance of elements, why abundance fluctuates, and why some are more common than others.
0wVa5 TIL Fish & Chips was an aid in winning WWII. Sir Winston Churchill saw the comfort food as a 'good companion' and was a dish that didn't get rationed to keep morale up. On the frontlines, troops calling "fish" and allies calling "chips" was an effective way to tell whether you were friend or foe.
Nkj6 TIL of Emma Gatewood, who in 1955 at the age of 67, told her children (now adults) that she was going for a walk, and became the first woman to hike the entire Appalachian Trail. She wore Keds sneakers and only carried an army blanket, a raincoat and a plastic shower curtain in a homemade denim bag.
jywM TIL of SS judge Georg Konrad Morgen, who investigated corruption and murder - in Nazi concentration camps. He investigated more than 800 people for criminal activity in the camps, over a period of two years. He prosecuted so many people that Heinrich Himmler had to directly order him to stop.