› added 5 years ago

267

TIL under President Reagans directive, the United States (via the CIA) funneled more than $2 billion in guns and money to the mujaheddin (which became the Taliban) during the 1980s to defeat and remove the Soviets in Afghanistan. It was the largest covert action program since World War II.

Read more msuweb.montclair.edu

via reddit.com

oRODo TIL that the youngest person to summit Mount Everest was just 13 years old while the oldest person to summit was 80 years old.
MeJD8 TIL that one of the oldest aquarium fish in the world was a black pacu named Buttkiss. Black Pacus are related to piranhas and generally live 20 years. Buttkiss lived at Cameo Pet Shop in NYC for over 40 years.
nWJod TIL Malignant Hyperthermia is a deadly reaction ( temp as high as 109 f ) to general anesthesia. It's inherited and runs in families. It's the reason anesthesiologists always ask you if anyone in the family had a fatal reaction to anesthesia.
VMjNk TIL about Cher Ami, a pigeon serving the US Military in WWI, who despite being shot through the breast, losing a leg and being blinded in one eye, successfully delivered messages that saved hundreds of US Soldiers. She died shortly after and is now on display at the Smithsonian
OoglY TIL that longer basketball shorts became a thing when Michael Jordan asked Champion, the maker of NBA uniforms, to make longer shorts so he could grab onto them when he hunched over out of breath.