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TIL That Mark Twain was born shortly after Halley’s Comet and predicted he would “go out with it” too. He died a day after the comet’s subsequent return

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NX86P TIL Bing Crosby was at the heart of introducing recordable master tape, revolutionizing radio, studio recording, & later TV/video production. In 1947, he funded the first commercial tape recorder with $50k, leading to the first radio show recorded on magnetic tape and changing broadcasting forever.
WkRJB A newly funded concept envisions a kilometer-wide radio telescope built inside a crater on the far side of the Moon.
rRplo TIL Orwell's 1984 title likely came from a poem his wife Eileen wrote in HS called End of the Century, 1984
JYeY4 TIL before synthetic plastics were invented, a substance called Hemacite was widely used to make everything from roller skate wheels to doorknobs. Its ingredients are blood and sawdust.
PVYO TIL the organization that runs U.S . presidential debates is independent of the government and owned by the Republican and Democratic Parties. It has been criticized for negotiating secret contracts between candidates, excluding third parties, and “perpetrating a fraud on the American voter.”