› added 7 years ago

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TIL a billionaire is plotting to propel thousands of miniature satellites at 20% the speed of light by aiming minutes-long 100-gigawatt laser pulses at light sails as early as the 2040s, to arrive at Proxima B (the nearest Earthlike planet in the Goldilocks Zone of Alpha Centauri) by the 2060s

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VMPRG TIL Kim Kardashian's 2007 sex tape continues to be a stable income for her, with $360K in yearly sales.
rRVw1 TIL In 1832 a Japanese sailing ship travelling from Nagoya to Tokyo was blown off course. In 1834, it eventually ended up where current day Washington state is, with 3 out of 14 crew members surviving.
0wKoR TIL Olive Oatman was captured in 1851 by Native Americans who slaughtered most of her family. She eventually integrated into a Mohave tribe and was given tattoos to enter the afterlife. Settlers traded to "free" her in 1857. She was the first tattooed American woman; her story remains mysterious.
6BjZ TIL of a sea slug that eats algae until it incorporates the algae into its tissues, eventually ceasing to eat and getting all of its energy from the sun directly.
R5WRj TIL: Harvard conducted a study where they track the health of their students from 1938 to 2017. Happiness and close relationships with family are a bigger factor than IQ, wealth, genes, etc in a healthy life. Good marriages lead to less mental deterioration than stressful ones.