› added 8 years ago

97

TIL that San Jose has the largest population of Vietnamese people in a single city outside of Vietnam.

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via reddit.com

N7oke TIL In 1963, Félicette was the first cat to be launched into Space. She experienced weightlessness and safely returned to Earth. 14 cats went through intensive training but Félicette was chosen for her calm disposition. Some claim the other cats became too fat.
0dPbA TIL: The Trojan Ballistics Suit of Armor was a planned exoskeleton suit inspired by the MJOLNIR armor from the Halo series for Canadian soldiers featured on the Discovery Channel. Features included wrist sheaths and in suit morphine injections. The inventor died in a car crash before he finished it.
wonAM TIL New York mobster, Joe Gallo was a diagnosed schizophrenic, watercolor painter, and avid reader of classic literature, who paraded his pet lion around the city. He kidnapped his own bosses, sparked two gang wars, and was killed on his birthday, in 1972. And Bob Dylan wrote a song about him.
DL7P TIL I learned that General Motors, Standard Oil, Firestone Tire, Mack Trucks, and Phillips Petroleum were all convicted of monopolizing the sale of buses and supplies to National City Lines and its subsidiaries in an effort to eliminate the competing electric trolley car.
6EBGQ TIL Napoleon III reserved a prized set of aluminum cutlery for special guests at banquets. Less favored guests used gold knives and forks. Aluminium was a valuable and prized metal.