› added 12 years ago

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TIL that during Argentina’s dictatorship, opponents to the regime were drugged, flown out over the Atlantic, and pushed out of planes alive with weights attached to their feet so no bodies would be found as evidence.

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glQ4 TIL the Tsar bomba was so powerful it broke window panes 560 miles away, equivalent to the approx. distance from London to Berlin or Manhattan to Charlotte, NC.
5YVM8 TIL despite nearing extinction in the 1950s due to DDT use, bald eagles haven't been an endangered species for over 20 years.
N7D4E TIL Mongolian BBQ was invented in Taiwan in 1951 by a comedian
xVn45 TIL that the term 'robber baron', applied to certain ruthless wealthy American businessmen of late 19th century, is derived from the German term 'Raubritter' which referred to the medieval German knights who charged illegal tolls on the roads crossing their lands.
NL7b TIL Volvo invented the modern seatbelt in 1959. To save lives, they decided to make it an “open patent,” allowing other manufacturers to use the same design. Every car produced today uses this mechanism, considered one of the major safety inventions of the 20th century, saving over 1M lives.