› added 9 years ago

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TIL that the longest tank-to-tank kill in history occurred when a Challenger tank destroyed an Iraqi T-62 at a range of 5100 metres (over 3 miles)

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PYrNO TIL about "The Lost Chord," a song composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1877 at the bedside of his dying brother. It was recorded onto Edison's phonograph in 1888, one of the first recordings of music ever made. The piece has endured as one of Sullivan's best-known songs as is still performed today.
nZgb TIL that hydraulic fracturing (fracking), was often considered too expensive to realistically pursue until an engineer discovered more efficient methods in 1997. Although Nicholas Steinsberger saved his company and changed the industry, he did not receive so much as a bonus.
oB4OL TIL: in the late 1960s, US plane hijacking had become so commonplace, specifically requests to be down to Cuba, but the industry so resistant to security changes, that a suggestion was seriously proposed to build a fake Havana airport in southern Florida to fool the hijackers into capitulation
XEPNP TIL that Japan planned a biological attack on San Diego, California, with plague-infested fleas during World War 2. The plan did not go through, as Japan surrendered five weeks before the attack would take place.
1xKr TIL that Russian and NATO troops were very close to using force against each other in Kosovo, 1999. A NATO commander disobeyed the orders he was given, reportedly saying “I’m not going to start the Third World War for you” to his superior, who was later fired.