› added 11 years ago

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TIL that Indian spacecraft Mangalyaan’s journey from Earth to Mars took 6 months, which is less than Christopher Columbus’ first journey from Europe to America (8 months)

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nWB9Y TIL about Đorđe Martinović a Serb farmer from Kosovo who was at the center of a notorious incident in May 1985, when he was treated for injuries caused by the insertion of a bottle into his anus. The Martinović affair, as it became known, turned into a cause célèbre in Yugoslav politics.
Lpbv TIL that experimental band The Flaming Lips recorded a 24 hour long song called “7 Skies H3” As well, the only version available for purchase is a $5000 hard drive copy of the song encased in a real human skull.
lopY1 TIL of Project Valkyrie: a theorized lightweight interstellar spacecraft that could attain 92% lightspeed. Components are tethered, with the crew 10 km away from the antimatter engine. A system would spray liquid droplets in front of the craft to shield against interstellar dust particles.
Vo7m TIL that despite his years at the BBC, despite countless one-man broadcasts and dozens of panel discussions, no record of George Orwell’s voice survives
N71o1 TIL that mellified man, a substance created when deceased humans were preserved in honey, was used as a medicine in parts of the world until the 19th Century.