› added 11 years ago

477

TIL whenever a pirate stopped a merchant ship, it was not uncommon for a handful of merchant crewmen to join the pirates.

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via reddit.com

MjlB TIL: The US Airways employee who gave the ticket to 9/11 terrorist Mohammed Atta said he thought Atta looked like a terrorist but told himself he was just being racist. When the planes later hit the WTC his first reaction was “I was right, this guy was a terrorist”.
wop97 TIL the 1st jet airliner passed extreme tests yet broke up in normal flight b/c the tests actually made it stronger. A 2x overpressure test on the prototype Comet strengthened it through "cold-working," making it last longer. Production Comets, lacking stress testing, wore out much faster.
yy18 TIL that Nazi eugenics programs had their start in the United States, with research funded by wealthy industrial leaders. A 1912 Carnegie Institute report even recommended the use of gas chambers as a solution to the problem of cleansing society of the poor, non-white, and mentally ill.
yVnRa TIL that Italian-born skier Alessia Afi Dipol had only been to Togo once before representing the African country at its first Winter Olympics in 2014. She became a citizen just before the games started and later said she chose to represent Togo because her father owns a clothing factory there.
nYdW TIL Puerto Rico is solving its iguana problem by putting the meat on menus (and they call it the chicken of the trees!)