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TIL Carl Sagan was denied tenure at Harvard University and was unable to become a member of the National Academy of Sciences because his role as a ‘popularizer’ of science had caused other scientists to dislike him, claiming he wasn’t a 'pure’ scientist.

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rNJn1 TIL that rockets are launched from near the equator because it gives them a large initial speed, helping reach space with less fuel. Over a 24-hour period, such places travel longer distances than places at higher latitudes, which means that they move faster and have more angular momentum.
ANPwa TIL: The 255th episode of MASH featured a time capsule buried by the characters filled with memories of the Korean War. The time capsule was real - filled with props. The property was sold and a construction worker found the time capsule and took it home. He got permission to keep it from Alan Alda.
Qeoe TIL A customer had to be dragged from a burning Hamburg, Germany sex shop by firefighters when he refused orders to evacuate. He had shut himself inside a private booth to watch a film (“Throbbin Hood”) and was heard complaining (while coughing from smoke inhalation) that he hadn’t “finished yet”
b9pAp TIL When Harry Wilson 18 months old, his proud Grandfather bet £50 that he would on day represent Wales in football and was quoted 2500/1 at his local bookmaker. 16 years later he became the youngest ever Wales debutant , netting his grandfather £125,000
wopgP TIL When Napoleon died in exile on the island of St. Helena in 1821, his doctor surreptitiously took his penis during the autopsy and gave it to a priest, who smuggled it to Corsica.