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TIL the U.S. government has specifications for its pens used by personnel: The pen consists of seven different parts and meets 16 pages of military specs, including that it be able to write for a mile with no fading and withstand temperatures up to 160 degrees and down to 40 degrees below zero.

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grlBb TIL the role of Bond villain Max Zorin in 1985's A View to a Kill was offered to both Sting and David Bowie (who initially accepted but later backed out) before Christopher Walken signed on.
VM49k TIL Typhoid Mary spent 26 years in forced isolation after infecting over 50 people with typhoid fever.
9wDEG TIL Gabe Newell said he knew "a sea change" was coming for PC gaming distribution, in 1995, when Doom (and id Software's 12 people) was estimated to be installed on more computers than Windows 95 (and its 500-person sales teams). By 2011 Steam had between 50-70% of the market for downloaded PC games
15BX TIL that the original writer of the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”, which has sold millions of copies and is featured in the Lion King movie, never received credit for the song during his lifetime. His family was awarded backdated royalties in 2006.
grY5X TIL that in January 1917, German Minister Arthur Zimmermann sent a coded telegram to the German ambassador in Mexico to try and persuade Mexico to attack the US. The British intercepted and decoded it, then forwarded to the US. That telegram was a big factor in the US entering World War I.