› added 11 years ago

80

TIL that during the pursuit of Gary Powers in his U2 spy plane on May 1st 1960, the USSR fired so many surface-to-air missiles in his general direction that one struck a soviet MiG-19 fighter sent to intercept him

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xV1jg TIL Ben Franklin wished the Bald Eagle had not been chosen to represent the US as it is “of bad moral character, a rank coward and a robber” and a Turkey would be more fitting.
9bvG TIL that in 1944, on the verge of the Liberation of Paris, Hitler ordered it’s governor to leave it a “pile of rubble,” and destroy all religious and historical monuments. The Governor refused, saving Paris.
WkOX4 TIL : Jalapeños were First Peppers in Space
PYV1V TIL two weeks after South Carolina seceded from the Union New York City's Mayor proposed secession as well in order to continue its extraordinarily lucrative cotton trade with the seceded South.
BrVly TIL that our palms and soles of feet cannot tan like the rest of our bodies regardless of how much sun they are exposed to. This due to a thick layer of dead skin that prevents UV rays from being exposed to the living cells