› added 11 years ago

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TIL the first man made aircraft to successfully land on another planet and send back data was the Soviet Venera 7 in 1970. After landing on Venus, the craft sent back only 23 minutes of weak data, presumably because it landed on its side.

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woomY TIL about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, wherein 146 garment workers died because of the factory owners’ decision to keep all exit doors locked to prevent theft and unauthorized breaks. The owners of the company survived and made roughly $400 per worker due to the insurance payout.
4QVX TIL that there is a cat who visits the University of Augsburg in Germany every day to offer cuddles to stressed out students. The cat’s owner lives nearby and doesn’t mind her daily excursions, and the students call her Sammy, the Campus Cat.
4KRw TIL that illegal immigrants contribute roughly $15billion a year to Social Security, despite not being able to receive benefits for doing so due to falsified information or simply not being eligible.
0Eyp TIL Navy SEALs began as a Naval Combat Demolition Unit eliminating obstacles on enemy-held beaches at Normandy prior to invasion. The NCDUs at Omaha Beach blew 8 complete gaps and 2 partial gaps in the German defenses by clearing 700 yds of beach in 2 hours, another 900 yds by the afternoon.
J1Jbv TIL you don’t need to be a former British colony to join the Commonwealth of Nations. Mozambique, Rwanda, Gabon and Togo are all members despite no historical connections to the former British Empire.