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TIL Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook wrote that the word Al-Qaeda should be translated as "the database", because it originally referred to the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen militants who were recruited and trained with CIA help to defeat the Russians

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e0YQJ TIL that the Manchurian plague outbreak of 1910-11 was incredibly deadly, with a near-100% fatality rate, and marked the first time that PPE including cloth masks were used on a significant scale to contain an epidemic
d8Oxr Even after accounting for other known risk factors, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, a study found that Black and Asian patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were more likely to need mechanical ventilation and more likely to die than white patients.
0eeR TIL in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” the time machine was to be a 1969 Chevrolet van. The idea was abandoned because it was too similar to the DeLorean used in “Back to the Future”. A telephone booth was eventually used despite it’s similarities to “Dr. Who”.
W7kgo TIL Pope Gregory XVI opposed gas lighting and railways, believing that they would create commerce and lead to liberal reforms. Gregory XVI in fact banned railways in the Papal States, calling them chemins d'enfer ("road to hell", a play on the French for railroad, chemin de fer, "iron road")
kMde TIL when a plane crashed on Rikers Island in 1957, prisoners were released from the prison building to help pull people from the wreckage. Some had their sentences commuted or reduced for acts of heroism during the incident.