› added 2 years ago

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TIL of the Dicker-rod, a device intended to replace the first down chains commonly used to measure 10-yard distances during games of gridiron football.

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e7l5 TIL that an Cuban-American FBI agent spent 3 years undercover in the Gambino crime family, convincing everyone he was Italian. He nearly became a made member of the family before the investigation was stopped.
ADpm4 TIL that although 20 US Presidents served in the military and most of them during war time, only President Kennedy was awarded a Purple Heart.
Lk4wp TIL that Mike Judge moved to Texas and a storm blew off a part of his fence. After his new neighbors fixed it for him, no questions asked, it became the basis for King Of The Hill - "about neighbors who... ultimately, do the right thing and do right by people and are basically good people."
wERM TIL Aircraft black boxes are designed to be able to withstand the pressure of being a mile underwater for up to 30 days. In the case of the Airbus box on Air France 447 it spent over 2 ½ years at over 3 miles deep and was still able to determine the cause of the accident.
rMoe TIL in 1961 Donald Reid built a Flying Submarine. It was demonstrated on 9 June 1964 where it dove to a depth of 6.5 feet (2 m) then flew to an altitude of 33 ft (10 m) .