› added 5 years ago

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TIL that the first full size radio-operated military drone was developed in 1935 in the form of the de Havilland DH-82B Queen Bee. Originally developed by the Royal Navy for target practice, it could take off and land without human operation and more than 400 were constructed.

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neklW TIL one of the reasons the LEGO mmo was shutdown was due to expensive penis detection costs
rEBe TIL that US interrogators tortured an Afghan detainee to death by hanging him by his arms for 4 days and beating his legs so badly they needed amputation. They did this despite most interrogators believing him to be “an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time”
R5nMw TIL that Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn was a cover of a cover; it was first recorded in 1993 by Danish singer Lis Sørensen, then by the original songwriters’ band Ednaswap 1994, then by Trine Rein in 1996, before becoming a massive international hit with Natalie’s 1997 version
8bbV TIL that the smell when it first starts raining is called Petrichor. It is a combination of plant oils and the chemical Geosin. New research has shown that when the rain drops hit the ground they trap tiny air bubbles, which then shoot upwards creating an aerosol.
X0kZr TIL astronomer Percival Lowell believed that he was the first person to observe canals on Venus, but it was later discovered that due to a faulty adjustment of the eyepiece of his telescope, he was actually mapping the blood vessels in his own eye