› added 7 years ago

1073

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.

PYGjE TIL The Prime Minister of Canada doesn't have to be a member of parliament, but does need a seat to participate. In the 1925 election Liberal Party leader William Lyon Mackenzie King lost his seat while his party won and "governed from the hallway" before winning a by-election a few weeks later.
JYEG8 TIL Chairman Mao, in a discussion with Dr Henry Kissinger in 1973, offered to send 10,000,000 women to the United States in exchange for improved trade relations.
OVD4 TIL: President Roosevelt received letters from army cavalrymen complaining about having to ride 25 miles a day for training and, in response, Teddy rode horseback for 100 miles, from sunrise to sunset, at 51 years old.
Jx11 TIL in 2005 a Welsh rugby fan boasted to friends that if Wales won the match they were watching he would cut his testicles off. When they won he went home, cut off his testicles and returned with them to show everyone in the bar
yQaAV TIL that the U.S. government accepts donations. An account to accept donations was established in 1843 to accept gifts from individuals "wishing to express their patriotism to the United States".