› added 4 years ago

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TIL Howard Foote Jr's took an A-4 Skyhawk for a joyride, his safety attributed to experience, skill, and ~100 hours on a flight simulator. Charges brought against him included hazarding a vessel. After 4.5 months in the brig, he got off with just time served and an other-than-honorable discharge.

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7r8XX TIL the 1940 Winter Olympics were originally given to Japan. They declined the games due to the start of the Sino-Japanese War. Eventually they were awarded to Germany. Three months later, Germany invaded Poland. The games were canceled altogether.
0wolp TIL that a fertilizer explosion at an Oppau, Germany plant in 1921 was so powerful that it destroyed all the medieval stained-glass windows of Worms cathedral, 15 km away
9e5X TIL that Scientists replicated 100 Psychology studies, and fewer than half got the same results
W76no TIL That in 2007 Luke Skywalker's lightsabre was taken into space by NASA.
4X7kR TIL, from 1776 to 1853, the US state of Rhode Island didn't have a dedicated state capital, instead the state government rotated between county seats of the five counties. This was reduced to Providence and Newport serving as co-capitals until 1900 when Providence became the sole state capital.