› added 7 years ago

1315

Of all the bodies in our solar system, the sun is probably the one we want to give the widest berth. It gushes radiation, and even though its surface is the coolest part of the star, it burns at about 9,940°F, hot enough to incinerate just about any material. As such, there are no plans to send a manned mission in its direction anytime soon (Mars is much more interesting, anyway), but it can't hurt to figure out at what distance a person would want to turn back. You can get surprisingly close.

Read more popsci.com

VLbB TIL that Mark Wahlberg had committed 20-25 offenses by the age of 21. These included throwing rocks at a bus full of black schoolchildren and knocking a Vietnamese man unconscious and blinding another. He was also addicted to cocaine by age 13.
QJYpk TIL in the 1st century AD two major Talmudic schools had a debate over whether mankind would've been better off having been born or not having been born. After two and a half years of argument, votes were counted and the side defending birth lost
m1Y5v TIL black widow spiders are not aggressive — you often have to actually pinch or squeeze one to get it to attack — but their venom makes bites extremely painful to humans, and to small animals like mice, fatal.
KYVQ6 TIL there is a belief amongst some Catholics known as 'Benevacantism'; the belief that Pope Benedict XVI's resignation was not valid, meaning that the current Pope Francis has been an 'antipope', or illegitimate pretender to the papacy, this entire time
gGx8 TIL Sum 41’s album, Chuck, was named after a peacekeeper that saved the band (by acting as a human shield) from mortar fire.