› added 10 years ago

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TIL that Mormons receive a “new name” in their temples which they must “never reveal, except at a certain place,” that nearly 2000 new names have been submitted to a website, and that the new name is apparently currently determined by simply which day of the month the person receives it.

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5AVB TIL there is a 1909 Penny on Mars, which is used as a part of a Calibration Target on The Curiosity Rover
Z8oXD TIL: Mysterious metal mini-awnings set knee-high on some London exteriors are urine deflectors. “A man may sometimes walk a mile before he can meet with a suitable" outdoor pee site, fussed an 1809 London writer who condemned the inventions that "conduct the stream into the shoes of the luckless."
e0wDk TIL that on January 31st the U.S. will see the first supermoon, blue moon, and lunar eclipse sync up since 1866.
p8xle TIL 18th century sailors and pirates were adept at astronomy and maths, e.g. trigonometry and logarithms. They even took classes and sat exams on these topics. The skills gained by studying such technical fields helped them navigate the open seas, escape authorities, chase down pirates, etc.
1akrD TIL During early days of telescopic observation, the light regions on Mars were thought to be continents, so they were given names that described land masses. On a night of bad seeing without steady air, Mars is a boiling orange blob