› added 12 years ago

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TIL the German government refuses to recognize Scientology as a religion. The organization has officially been labelled an ‘abusive business masquerading as a religion’.

j6ZVa TIL: OSAM-1 is a NASA spacecraft designed to test on-orbit refueling of satellites. Its launch is currently planned for no earlier than 2025. Its first objective would be the complex refueling of Landsat 7, an existing satellite launched in 1999.
rRNWW TIL that 'decimate' is actually a reference to the roman practice of punishing large groups of people (e.g. battalions that performed poorly) by dividing the cohort into groups of ten, having each group cast lots, and have the nine individuals kill the single unlucky individual in each group.
EMoW TIL: the character Detective John Munch as played by Richard Belzer has appeared on more shows than any other character in television history including Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: SVU, 30 Rock, The X-Files, The Simpsons, The Wire, Arrested Development, and Sesame Street.
KO74R TIL there have been over 2000 cover versions of the song "Louie Louie". In the 80s some radio stations would play the song all weekend by a different artist each time.
wLdl7 TIL about Muezza, the Islamic Prophet Muhammad's cat. It is said that sometimes Muhammad gave sermons with the cat in his lap, and that Muhammad cut a piece off his clothes as to not disturb the cat from his rest on said clothes. As such, Muslims hold cats as cherished and lovable creatures.