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TIL The manga creator of Dragon Ball Z, Akira Toriyama, met Jackie Chan, who is a fan of Toriyama's previous works, Dr. Slump. Because of the meetup, Toriyama had the inspiration to create Dragon Balls, then incorporated Jackie Chan's stunts as Dragon Ball fighting moves.

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oBMmo TIL Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite put into space, transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz which were detectable by amateur radio operators. After orbiting for about 3 weeks it's batteries had died. 2 months later it burned up falling back into the atmosphere kick-starting the space race.
gMdJW TIL gas lines are reverse threaded so that they cannot be linked to other lines such as water, air, and ventilation and this is also done to keep kids from easily disconnecting them.
WkNJ4 TIL that the Captain of the USS Indianapolis was court-martialed for its' sinking in 1945. In 1996, a history project by a sixth grader cleared his name.
v1mjB TIL that in 1971, the original tapes for Monty Python were almost erased and destroyed by the BBC. This was intended as a cost saving measure to reuse the tapes. Terry Gilliam bought them all and saved them.
6jLW TIL the 1977 NYC Blackout was partially responsible for the birth of Hip-Hop, as it provided cover for mass looting of DJ equipment in the Bronx.