› added 9 years ago

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TIL that wristwatches were almost exclusively worn by women, men used pocket-watches. Wristwatches were first worn by military men towards the end of the 19th century as a way to synchronise maneuvers during war without revealing the plan to the enemy through signaling.

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9YEPX TIL the HMS Perseus submarine, was hit and sunk on December 6, 1941. John Capes and 3 others opened the escape hatch, and using an early type of oxygen breather, swam 170ft to the surface. Capes was the only survivor. He then spent 18 months on a Greek island evading capture from the Italian army.
x69xk TIL that despite over 30 witnesses to the 1955 murder of Lamar Smith, veteran and Civil Rights activist, in broad daylight outside the courthouse of Brookhaven, Mississippi, no witness - who included the local sheriff - would testify in the case, and so the crime went unpunished
Z80y4 TIL Cobra Commander was a used car salesman in the GI JOE comics. His brother was killed in a drunk driving accident, he became embittered and started a pyramid scheme called COBRA.
W7NeA TIL Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise would've have walked on the Moon as commander of Apollo 19 before budget cuts cancelled that flight
J58l TIL as far back as the 1930s drivers could buy an “analog GPS” unit featuring moving maps of your location, route and destination - “Thought to be the first automated car-mounted navigation device, the gadget was tied into the speedometer in order to pace travel progress.”