› added 10 months ago

177

TIL that US military pilots, after being certified to carry nuclear bombs, were issued an eye patch so that, in the event of a full-scale nuclear war, if they were blinded by a nuclear detonation they would be able to remove the eye patch and still see.

6EYVZ TIL that American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was related to 12 other U.S. presidents. This total constitutes over 25% of U.S. presidents. He was also related to Winston Churchill, Confederate president Jefferson Davis, and Confederate General Robert E Lee.
78xnO TIL that Emma Hauck (1878–1920) was a German outsider artist known for the letters she wrote to her husband while in a mental hospital. The letters were never delivered but are now regarded as art for their abstraction and repetition, often just “Come sweetheart” or “Come” written repeatedly.
LkNgp TIL of the wreck of the slave ship L'Utile which in 1761 crashed into Tromelin Island near Madagascar, an island without animals or trees. 60 Slaves were left behind. FIFTEEN YEARS later the survivors were rescued – seven women and an eight-month-old child.
grwP9 TIL That going postal is an American English slang phrase referring to becoming extremely and uncontrollably angry, often to the point of violence, and usually in a workplace environment. The expression derives from a series of incidents from 1986 with the United States Postal Service (USPS).
JGG8 TIL of “Bitchin’ Betty”, a voice system in military aircraft that warns pilots by literally shouting at them seconds before they need to turn so they don’t crash