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TIL of the Heaven's Gate cult who believed an alien space ship was trailing a comet. Several dozen people joined the "Heaven's Gate Away Team" and committed a series of ritual suicides. Among the victims, Thomas Nichols, brother of actress Nichelle Nichols who played Uhura in the original Star Trek.

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kJN5 TIL American cheese used to be known as “rattrap cheese” or just “rat cheese”
b9GJa TIL about a species called the pied hoverfly (Scaeva pyrastri). It has copied the appearance of a wasp but it’s white. They do this to fool their natural enemies into not eating them because wasp are poisonous. So if u ever see one, don't worry it's harmless. (See link for photo’s)
eAy4 TIL when racial segregation was ruled unconstitutional, Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to “Preserve the Peace” by blocking black students. President Dwight D. Eisenhower reacted by federalizing Arkansas National Guard assuming control to then protect the black students
xV91g TIL that in 1951, a woman sitting in her Florida apartment caught on fire. When found the next day, all that was left was her backbone, her left foot and her skull, shrunk to the size of a cup. Nothing else in the apartment burned. Police were stumped. Some think it was spontaneous human combustion.
neGj7 TIL that in Russia, there is a day of conception as the birthrate is very low and people get a day off just to bang. if it the baby is born exactly 9 months later on june 12, they win a prize. and if they get close, they go into a draw to win stuff.