› added 4 years ago

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TIL when the US was pressured by China not to sell F-20 fighters to Taiwan, the US allowed General Dynamics to work with Taiwan to jointly develop a comparable fighter, which was later named F-CK-1. (Yes, it's named after the Taiwanese president who initiated the project, but I'm sure r/theyknew!)

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m14Np TIL that sniper Simo Häyhä kept a Winter War diary discovered in 2018 from his nephew's drawer, that can now be read online for free, visualized and contextualized also with his letters and other memories
b9xDj TIL that the Khurramites, a religious group in 8th-century Iran, believed in free sex, provided that the women agreed, and in the freedom of enjoying all pleasures and inclinations, so long as it doesn't cause any harm to others. They also sought the greatest sacramental effect from wine and drinks
0wlPA TIL that March was the medieval term for the borderlands where territories overlapped. Just as Counts ruled counties, Marches gave rise to titles like Marquis.
R7n68 TIL of the Vela Incident, A nuclear explosion in the Indian ocean of unknown origin. The most widespread theory is that it was a joint Apartheid South African-Israeli nuclear test.
o1AK TIL during the Iraq-Iran War, the United States shot down an Iranian civilian plane, killing 260 people.