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TIL that besides inventing television (which he called the “Televisor”), John Logie Baird also attempted to produce diamonds from graphite, a rust-proof glass razor (which shattered), pneumatic shoes (which burst), infrared night-viewing (Noctovision), and mechanical video recording (Phonovision).

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rNGPW TIL that during WWII Boeing built a huge factory and camouflaged it by building a completely fake town on top of it so it would look like a suburban neighborhood from the air
kJARg TIL that before the raid of Osama Bin Laden in 2011, two 1:1 scaled versions of his Pakistani compound were built in the US, for SEALs to practice their raid on. The elevation of these test compounds was also built to be at the same level, to test the affect it would have on the raid helicopters.
j6bBX TIL of Stalag Luft III, a POW camp for Allied airmen. The prisoners published two newspapers, took courses overseen by a Master from King's College, and staged plays. They also kept detailed records of guard movement, this was used by the camp commandant to punish guards who left their posts early.
b6ovj TIL that in the 1971 INDO-PAK war, BBC once mistakenly reported that Indian Air Force had air-dropped 5,000 soldiers,13 times more than the actual number of 384.The incorrect report scared Pakistan and hastened the surrender of Pakistani soldiers which eventually led to the liberation of Bangladesh.
OG0D4 Today I learned that a man made hole is deeper than the mariana trench.