› added 4 months ago

59

TIL that relations between China and the Soviet Union deteriorated to the point that the Soviets came close to launching a nuclear attack on Beijing after the Zhenbao Island Incident in 1969.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

wmlW TIL that an influential feminist theorist published that E=MC2 is a sexist equation for giving the speed of light too much privilege and that men cannot understand fluid mechanics because they don’t menstruate which leaves them unfamiliar with fluids.
VBA9k TIL that the city of Americana in Brazil was founded by former Confederates who fled the US after the Civil War
84aL TIL Douglas Bader was a legless flying ace (RAF) in WW2 . His success was partly because of his having no legs; pilots pulling high “g-forces” in combat often “blacked out” as the flow of blood from the brain to other body parts, usually the legs. As he had no legs he could remain conscious longer.
9Yo67 TIL about Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in the solar system, which is about 2.5x taller than Everest, is about the size of Poland, and has a mile wide moat around it due to the immense weight pushing down the crust of Mars around it.
WeyL TIL Roger Ebert considers Armageddon (1998) to be one of his most hated films. He said it was “an assault on the eyes, the ears, the brain, common sense and the human desire to be entertained.”