› added 4 years ago

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TIL "Mayday" comes from the French word "M'aidez" meaning "Help Me"

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XEOlR TIL when cowboy/actor Slim Pickens (Blazing Saddles/Dr. Strangelove) joined the military during WW2 he stated his profession was “rodeo”, the recruiter heard “radio” and Slim spent the entire war as a radio operator
6OKY TIL that when the mayor of Fucking, Austria was asked if he would change the town’s name, he replied “everyone here knows what it means in English, but for us Fucking is Fucking—and it’s going to stay Fucking.”
X0AwP TIL, in 1916, German agents blew up 2 million pounds of munitions on Black Tom Island in NY Harbor. The explosion damaged the Statue of Liberty.
W7YB4 TIL corporate fines are tax-deductible as long as they are "made for the purpose of gaining or producing income from the business" (in Canada)
69LKZ TIL of "Morphic wing design" - wings that twist to control the plane (as opposed to hinged control surfaces like deflecting ailerons) in a quest to reduce fuel consumption