› added 11 years ago

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TIL that Mikhail Kalishnikov, inventor of the AK-47, greatly regretted having invented the weapon, and is quoted as saying “I would prefer to have invented a machine that people could use and that would help farmers with their work - for example a lawnmower.”

VbDm TIL that in the late 1960s, the Shah of Iran sent a series of letters to the King of Saudi Arabia, saying, “Please, my brother, modernize. Open up your country. Make the schools mixed. Let women wear miniskirts. Have discos. Be modern. Otherwise I cannot guarantee you will stay on your throne.”
GPRg TIL a Canadian student attending a lecture on out-of-body experiences approached the professor after saying, “I thought everybody could do that.” She is the first person studied who can induce them at will.
4XO55 TIL of “Born Secret”, a legal principle in the US that classifies any nuclear science information at the moment of discovery, even if it wasn’t discovered by the government or serve any military purpose.
loMj5 TIL there’s an official day of kindness in Pennsylvania that honors Mr. Rogers’ favorite number, 143, which stands for the letters in “I love you.“
QJwre TIL in WWII, Germany carried out only one land operation in north America, the installation of a secret weather station in Newfoundland. They scattered American cigarette packets and planted a sign saying "Canadian Meteor Service" in case anyone found it, and the site wasn't rediscovered until 1977.