› added 5 years ago

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TIL that by 1943 the US Navy was larger than the combined fleets of the rest of the world, and by 1945 comprised 70% of the ships larger than 1000 tons.

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R7MxQ TIL in 2003, an F-16 patroling in Iraq was called in to assist British special force troops ambushed by Iraqis. Because it was night-time, the pilot can't drop his bombs without hitting the British. So he dived and pulled his jet up, forming a sonic boom that hit the Iraqis, causing them to flee.
NXYXE TIL The hit song 'St Elmo's Fire' was written in just two hours. Although the song was part of the movie soundtrack, the lyrics were actually inspired by the Canadian athlete Rick Hansen, who was traveling around the world, via his wheelchair, to raise awareness for spinal cord injuries.
reYy TIL in 1958, only 4 percent of Americans supported marriage between “whites and non-whites.”
aeK9 TIL that in 1987, a prison inmate, Ronnie Lee Gardner, broke a glass partition and knocked out the lights in the prison visiting area to have sex with a woman who was visiting him. The other inmates cheered and barricaded the doors. Gardner later claimed breaking the glass was an accident.
R7lpQ TIL that 99% of the wasabi consumed in the world is not actually wasabi, it’s horseradish + green food colouring. Real wasabia japonica is one of the most expensive crops to grow and is a temperamental semiaquatic herb native to the mountain streams of central Japan.