› added 7 months ago

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TIL that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owns an enormous collection of fossils as a kind of byproduct of the Corps’s actual, more logistical purpose: flood control.

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YprgZ TIL That the US Army tradition of naming helicopters after Native American Tribes (something that was once an official regulation) dates to 1947 and General Hamilton Howze who felt that helicopters were meant to attack the flank and fade away...in the tradition of the Plains Indian tribes.
awKoA TIL that Michael Keaton's character in "Beetlejuice" is actually "Betelgeuse" (named after the star), and that Burton wanted Sammy Davis Jr in the role
1Mod TIL that during the 20s there was an orchestra in the Soviet union that was led by a committee instead of a conductor, because the idea of a conductor was against Marxist ideals
dMZ9 TIL that there are 92 known cases of nuclear bombs lost at sea.
g1P7 TIL that the first civilzation (Sumerians) performed math in units of 60, which is why we measure time in 60 second/minute intervals.